Obama's (Catholic) Ambassador To Malta, "Without A Candidate?"
Joe Escalante ·
February 8, 2012 at 2:34am
There seems to be some healthy anti-Obama sentiment percolating among Catholics like never before. Maltese Ambassador (and high profile Catholic Obama supporter) Doug Kmiec publicly stated that he must re-think his support The Catholic League's has issued an unambiguous call to action, and Hugh Hewitt today called Obama's the most anti-Catholic administration since the Blaine Amendment era.
If even a small percentage of the U.S.'s 70 million Catholics turn against Obama, can he still win? And what was that Malta guy thinking? Oh, ya. He was thinking about Malta; could happen to anybody.
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Jan '11
Re: Obama's (Catholic) Ambassador To Malta, "Without A Candidate?"
What are Hispanic Catholics going to do?
Edited on February 8, 2012 at 3:03amRe: Obama's (Catholic) Ambassador To Malta, "Without A Candidate?"
Doug Kmiec was a professor of mine in graduate school. He is one of the nicest, most intelligent, most decent people that you will ever meet. He is also hopelessly politically snakebit.
Kmiec grew up an RFK Democrat, was won over to the GOP by Ronald Reagan (who he served as the head of the Office of Legal Counsel) and backed Mitt Romney in 2008 before switching to Obama when John McCain took the nomination. Like so many Americans, he was enticed by the Democratic nominee because of what he perceived to be a fundamental decency residing in the man. And like so many Americans, he has now come to the realization that this decency doesn't extend to the president's approach to public policy.
Edited on February 8, 2012 at 3:10amApr '11
Re: Obama's (Catholic) Ambassador To Malta, "Without A Candidate?"
Yeah...ok.: What are Hispanic Catholics going to do? · 15 minutes ago
Edited 8 minutes ago
Most of them? Unchanged. Their church freaking out, though, will probably move some of them. Peter Robinson's post that a lot has changed for the general in the last week is very much on point, and this Joe's post here is one part of how that is playing out.
May '10
Re: Obama's (Catholic) Ambassador To Malta, "Without A Candidate?"
Sadly, most people seem to associate politically first and religiously second... which is to say they jump straight to ethical judgments before considering the underlying morals; fit their beliefs to their social circles, rather than fit their habits to their beliefs.
This would have to continue and escalate over the next several months for it to have a big impact on the election. Democrats will remain horrified of Republicans, and swing voters will forget.
Jul '11
Re: Obama's (Catholic) Ambassador To Malta, "Without A Candidate?"
Troy, there's a lot of disillusioned moderates that had very good personal reasons for voting democrat in 2008. Winning them over with sound policy platforms is as critical as exposure of Obama's controversial decisions. Thankfully the man chose to reveal his cards on this issue. He stands against religious freedom. Let us see him enforce it now and still keep his messiah look albeit through an ever thickening media scrim.
Jan '11
Re: Obama's (Catholic) Ambassador To Malta, "Without A Candidate?"
The Catholic Church has always had roots in both sides of political conflicts. Occasionally, the Church itself was one of the sides.
There will always be a conflict when the church ventures into politics as a player. But the reverse is also true. When the state tries to intervene in religious affairs, the state loses its political authority and soon relies entirely on power.
To Catholics, like me, this is a very important struggle about religion. These calculated political moves against religion are not only against Catholics, but to every religion. But even if you aren't the slightest bit religious, these moves should still worry you. They betray the willingness of the political animals in this administration to grab power wherever they think they can get away with it.
If this was only about religion, I'd only ask my non-religious friends to step aside and let us defend ourselves. But this is hardly about religion alone. This is about the desire to wield power. And because of that, I ask the religious and non-religious alike to join together against a blatant power grab.
May '11
Re: Obama's (Catholic) Ambassador To Malta, "Without A Candidate?"
I was discussing this with my father this weekend. We were in Massachusetts for a family event and in an odd twist, he attended St. Francis Xavier Church in Hyannis (sometimes referred to as the Kennedy Family Church), The Bishops' letter on the matter was read to the congregation, and there was a sermon on religious freedom and abortion. My father said it was very conservative and rather refreshing, and touchingly naive. He applied the old chestnut about closing the barn door after the horses had left. We both agreed that it is too late, and the Roman Catholic church will lose this fight.
We have both had our issues with the Roman Catholic Church since the 2008 election and since the passage of Obamacare. We both heard sermons from the more liberal members of priesthood exhorting parishioners to support both causes. It was obvious to us then, that Obama and any Democrat created healthcare plan would lead to the withering of religious freedom.
I am at a loss as to how so many Catholic priests and Bishops could not see that they were effectively placing a target on the Roman Catholic Church with their support of Obama and Obamacare.
Dec '11
Re: Obama's (Catholic) Ambassador To Malta, "Without A Candidate?"
Personally, I am both shocked that the Obama administration is doing this incredibly stupid move, and at the same time not surprised at all. I also agree with Tim Groseclose: this will end badly for Obama. As DocJay says at #5, this is going to hurt him among the independents, and it could possibly hurt the Democratic party in general. Obama might not care that he's stepping on the toes of the conservative Protestants, who probably won't vote for him anyway, but there are a lot of Catholic moderates who will add this to the "cons" side of the calculation on whether to vote for him again. It also gives ammunition to moderate Republicans running in blue states. And in the end, it is so obviously un-Constitutional that it won't happen anyways.
Re: Obama's (Catholic) Ambassador To Malta, "Without A Candidate?"
Well put KC. From the pulpit last Friday one of my priests went far beyond what I've ever seen in terms of rallying support against Obama: 50% Hispanic flock' 25% Filipino. I'm sure he did the same at the Spanish mass later that evening. It was a call to arms, tax exempt status be damned. This is just one parish, and not a typical one, but it was forceful.
KC Mulville:
If this was only about religion, I'd only ask my non-religious friends to step aside and let us defend ourselves. But this is hardly about religion alone. This is about the desire to wield power. And because of that, I ask the religious and non-religious alike to join together against a blatant power grab. · 14 hours ago
Jan '11
Re: Obama's (Catholic) Ambassador To Malta, "Without A Candidate?"
Absolutely. I'm not religious but I don't want to see the foundations of civil society torn down.
This is exactly what I feared when I first tried to read the Obamacare act. OK, I didn't get through more than 5%, but that first 5% was enough to concern me about the amount of power the act was leaving in the hands of unelected bureaucrats.
So, here's an unelected bureaucrat (Sebelius) making the decision that Obamacare trumps freedom of religion. Any bets on what comes next?