PRESIDENT AND CHURCH – AT 9:05 A.M. ET:  This story is growing, and can become a major campaign issue.  The Obama administration is insisting that religious institutions offer health insurance to their imployees containing provisions that violate their beliefs. 

Many political observers are astounded by this.  It is a fight the Obamans didn't need in an election year, but they chose to have it.  Peggy Noonan, in The Wall Street Journal, believes this can cost Obama the presidency:

President Obama just may have lost the election.

The president signed off on a Health and Human Services ruling that says under ObamaCare Catholic institutions—including charities, hospitals and schools—will be required by law, for the first time ever, to provide and pay for insurance coverage that includes contraceptives, abortion-inducing drugs and sterilization procedures. If they do not, they will face ruinous fines in the millions of dollars. Or they can always go out of business.

In other words, the Catholic Church was told this week that its institutions can't be Catholic anymore.

I invite you to imagine the moment we are living in without the church's charities, hospitals and schools. And if you know anything about those organizations, you know it is a fantasy that they can afford millions in fines.

There was no reason to make this ruling—none. Except ideology.

The conscience clause, which keeps the church itself from having to bow to such decisions, has always been assumed to cover the church's institutions.

Now the church is fighting back. Priests in an estimated 70% of parishes last Sunday came forward to read strongly worded protests from the church's bishops. The ruling asks the church to abandon Catholic principles and beliefs; it is an abridgement of the First Amendment; it is not acceptable. They say they will not bow to it. They should never bow to it, not only because they are Catholic and cannot be told to take actions that deny their faith, but because they are citizens of the United States.

And...

There are 77.7 million Catholics in the United States. In 2008 they made up 27% of the electorate, about 35 million people. Mr. Obama carried the Catholic vote, 54% to 45%. They helped him win.

They won't this year. And guess where a lot of Catholics live? In the battleground states.

There was no reason to pick this fight. It reflects political incompetence on a scale so great as to make Mitt Romney's gaffes a little bitty thing.

There was nothing for the president to gain, except, perhaps, the pleasure of making a great church bow to him.

Enjoy it while you can. You have awakened a sleeping giant.

COMMENT:  The president's actions are outrageous.  They will be tested in the Supreme Court, and he will likely lose.  This court, including its liberal minority, has been sensitive to religious rights.

Of course, the usual suspects are siding with Obama.  The New York Times, never willing to miss a chance to bash religion, is right up front in its gleeful support.  But most Americans, Catholic or not, will, I think, be repelled by this ideological attack on a religious institution. 

The people siding with Obama are the ones who will vote for him anyway.  Those opposed consist of supporters, opponents and independents.  The Republicans, if they handle this issue skilfully, can properly gain support.  Let's see if Romney can handle this political windfall.

February 3, 2012