When Barack Obama won 54 percent of the Catholic vote in the
2008 presidential election, commentators barely noticed that John
McCain won a majority of the religiously-active Catholic vote (51
percent to 49 percent). This was a small margin, to be sure, but it
doesn’t bode well for the 2012 presidential race, after all the
worst predictions of Obama’s support for abortion became
reality.
Religiously-active Catholics are those who report
attending Mass at least once a week. Weekly attendance at religious
services is the accepted definition of a religiously-active voter
in any faith tradition. Studies of exit polls going back to the
'60s tell the story of how these Catholic voters lost their loyalty
to the Democratic Party, becoming either reliable Republicans or
swing voters with a preference for socially conservative
candidates, e.g. the “Reagan Democrats.”
The Obama Catholic surrogate machine was in full swing
throughout the last campaign and well into his administration. Even
when concerns were voiced by Catholics regarding Obama’s appearance
at Notre Dame, Kathleen Kennedy Townsend came to his defense in the
pages of Newsweek before Obama’s first meeting with Pope
Benedict XVI by writing, “Notre Dame awarded the president an
honorary degree because it saw the need to highlight the best of
Catholic teaching as applied to politics: the ability to open the
eyes of those who would prefer to keep them closed, and to open the
hearts of those who would prefer not to know the pain that their
actions cause. The pope has a lot to learn about Catholic politics
in America. Barack Obama can teach him.” (Note Ms. Kennedy Townsend
did not capitalize “Pope”.)
Unfortunately, what “life-long Catholic” Ms. Kennedy
Townsend is missing in her lecturing tone to the Holy Father on
behalf of President Obama is the reality that Catholics’ eyes are
open on the settled issues of life and marriage. Catholic voters
are compassionate and educated with the ability to recognize when
empty rhetoric is being used as cover for what does not help
anyone, including the poor. President Obama’s advancement of the
abortion and same-sex marriage agendas are perfect
examples.
In just over two short years, President Obama has done
more to promote abortion through policy in the health care reform
bill, executive orders, and spending priorities such as Planned
Parenthood than all his predecessors combined. And, his
recent decision not to defend the Constitutionality of the Defense
of Marriage Act potentially opens the door for the expansion of
same-sex marriage across the country.
Those Catholics who campaigned for Obama saying his
policies, such as anti-poverty programs or international aid,
“outweigh” his support for abortion and same-sex marriage will find
few converts among Catholic voters who have been made aware by
their bishops of the massive abortion funding in the health care
bill. These Catholic voters will have heard clearly what their
Church leaders said when the legislation became law — universal
health care coverage has always been an important goal, but should
never have been achieved at the cost of unborn lives.
In fact, during the heat of the debate over abortion
funding in the health care bill, President Obama stood before
Congress and the entire nation on September 9, 2009 and said,
“…under our plan, no federal dollars will be used to fund
abortions, and federal conscience laws will remain in place.” Not
only was federal funding for abortion always part of
Obama’s plan, his surrogates were busy meeting with pro-abortion
organizations like EMILY’s List delivering assurances that abortion
would never be taken out of the legislation.
Catholics have a deep love for this country, for its
special place in world history, and they know that — perhaps more
than at any previous time — this election will define the future
of America. Catholics do not want an America more deeply stamped by
an Obama presidency than it already is. They’ve already learned his
promises cannot be trusted. Obama has led our nation away from
respect for life and marriage, and people who are suffering from
terminal illness face “rationed care” with its inevitable
trajectory toward euthanasia. Those who espouse the core value of
our faith are increasingly viewed as intolerant, hateful, or
lacking compassion because they want to defend innocent life and
the foundational institution of human society, the
family.
Obama surrogates who treat abortion and marriage as just
two issues among many others are misleading Catholic voters and
distorting the Church’s teaching. Abortion and marriage belong to a
small group of policy issues that are not weighed by prudential
judgment. All instances of abortion are morally wrong, as in the
recognition that a marriage can exist between individuals of the
same sex. Therefore, to consider allowing policies that do not
respect the sanctity of life for any reason at all is unacceptable
from a Catholic perspective. Likewise on marriage, the Church holds
the firm belief that marriage between a man and a woman should be
protected by the state and is a non-negotiable principle of
Catholic teaching.
The 2010 mid-term election already demonstrated the
consequences for Catholic Members of Congress who supported health
care reform, especially in heavily Catholic states such as Ohio and
Pennsylvania. President Obama and his Catholic supporters like Lt.
Governor Kennedy Townsend will likely learn a lot about the faith
of these same Catholics when it guides their decisions in the
voting booth on November 6, 2012.
