A wave of conservatives, Catholic leaders, even typically media-shy nuns is building to crash on President Obama’s insurance birth control mandate, raising the possibility that ObamaCare will join the economy as a top issue in the 2012 election.
On multiple fronts, foes of the president’s insurance birth control demand are forming this week, some to raise money to advertise against the president’s reelection campaign and others simply to plead with the White House to stay out of the church’s business.
The effort kicked into high gear Friday when Obama offered a compromise on the issue that was rejected by Catholic bishops and political conservatives. Over the weekend, the opponents worked overtime to build coalitions to fight the demand that Catholic agencies provide insurance that includes birth control, even if they don’t pay for it.
Some of the foes coming together to fight the president are big names in the conservative world. Brent Bozell, chair of the Media Research Center and the anti-ObamaCare For America group, has gathered 42 critics so far, including former Attorney General Edwin Meese, former Republican Party Chairman Ed Gillespie, Tea Party founders Mark Meckler and Jenny Beth Martin, several lawmakers and editors. The University of Notre Dame’s Becket Fund has a list of 100 opponents, including college presidents, seminarians and professors from schools including Harvard.
Then there are some simple religious communities, like those run by Catholic nuns. “The Sisters of Mary will offer up daily prayers with the intention that this unjust mandate be overturned, and we will do so until it is overturned,” said the Catholic community in Ann Arbor, Michigan. “As Sisters of St. Francis of Perpetual Adoration, we cannot and will not comply with this mandate and ask you to please join us in offering prayers and sacrifices for this very important intention,” added the community from Mishawaka, Indiana.
“This is a brewing story,” said Greg Mueller, a conservative strategist. “We are uniting to fight these new Obama regulations on the grounds that they are an attack on the First Amendment, religious freedom, individual liberty and conscience rights.”
While the president’s campaign team had hoped to focus on the slowly shrinking unemployment crisis and recovering economy, his flub in handling the birth control issue is fast pushing his controversial health reform issue back on the front burner. “This is changing the dynamics of the 2012 race from just being on the economy to his aggressive government agenda led by ObamaCare,” added Mueller.
