A few thoughts:
1) Note that this was in a Friday news dump from the administration, to have minimal news impact.
2) The provisions, while welcome, do not go far enough. Nobody should be required to pay for abortion and contraceptive services against their will. Religious freedom matters for everybody, not just the minimum number that the Obama administration thinks it must grant religious freedom to.
3) This is a sign of weakness. The Obama administration has begun to realize how badly it has burned itself by its thuggish, totalitarian move to restrict freedom of religion to freedom of worship in this country.
4) This is not the time for the bishops or others to go soft. It’s time to press further and demand full respect for religious liberty. Caving at the first opportunity would be a grave mistake.
5) Ignore analysis about tone (e.g., taking a conciliatry tone, dialing back rhetoric, etc.). Tone is just the wrapping on the package. What’s inside the package is what counts.
What everyone has to realize and hammer away at is that giving the HHS secretary authority to govern by decree is the problem.
HHS graciously makes a concession today.
HHS sternly reimposes the conceded point tomorrow.
HHS gives, HHS takes away, HHS gives, HHS takes away.
The bishops are fools if they fall for this. But to grasp what’s happening they have to realize that Obamacare’s power-granting to the bureaucrats is the problem, not the individual decrees issued, withedrawn, reissued, repackaged, gussied up, rehammered down by HHS.
Good analysis from Mr. Akin. The Bishops need to push back and push hard: NO mandates for ANYTHING for ANYONE.