We've heard about Barack Obama's hope from his bestselling book "The
Audacity of Hope." Now we are getting a glimpse of his audacity.
As the Christian Broadcasting Network's David Brody first reported on
Friday, Obama has decided to go after two constituencies that have mostly
voted Republican in recent years - Roman Catholics and Protestant
Evangelicals - and take up an issue that the GOP and conservative Christians
have owned in recent election cycles - pro-life.
The Obama campaign has formed the "National Catholic Advisory Council,"
co-chaired by Democratic Senator Bob Casey of Pennsylvania and former
Democratic Congressman Tim Roemer of Indiana, both Roman Catholics. Casey's
late father, Gov. Bob Casey, always claimed he was barred from speaking to
the 1992 Democratic National Convention because of his strong pro-life
views. Obama has said he wants to change his party's antipathy toward
pro-lifers, though not its pro-choice position.
This is a crafty political move on Obama's part. It could not only strike at
the heart of the Republican base, but it will reveal how seriously
politicians are when they claim to favor legal protection for the unborn,
but act as if they are pro-choicers. Obama has said that while he strongly
favors "a woman's right to choose," he is open to hearing other opinions.
That's nice, but hearing and acting are two different things. And why are
two pro-life Catholics giving moral cover to Obama who, when he had the
chance, did not even join with several of his Democratic Senate colleagues
in voting to ban the horrid practice of partial-birth abortion, in which the
brains of a fully developed baby are extracted as the child emerges from the
womb?
How can a Catholic in good standing and good conscience endorse someone who
violates a basic tenet of the Catholic Church? The lust for power and
position, apparently, has become so strong that some people are willing to
sell not only their own souls, but also the beating hearts and souls of
unborn children to the highest political bidder.