MUST READ:: HENNINGER: Transformers – WSJ

Political News Now ^ | Henninger

[Michael van der Galien]

Pope John Paul II, surveying from his seat in the eternal hereafter the battle between the American Catholic Church and the Obama administration over mandated contraception services, must be permitting himself a sad smile. The pope knew more than most about the innate tensions between the state and its citizens.

The Obamaites will object that it is unfair to liken their government to the Communist Party of Poland. That is not the point. What the former Karol Wojtyla knew is that any state will claim benevolence on behalf of doing whatever it thinks it needs to do in pursuit of its goals.

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney invoked the good in defense of the Obama law's universal reach: "The administration decided—the president agrees with this decision—that we need to provide these services that have enormous health benefits for American women and that the exemption that we carved out is appropriate."

The American Catholic Church, from left to right, is now being handed a lesson in the hierarchy of raw political authority. One hopes they and their supporters will recognize that they have not been singled out. The federal government’s forcings routinely touch other groups in this country—schools, doctors, farmers, businesses. The church’s fight is not the whole or the end of it.

Since he appeared, no other word has been invoked more often to describe Barack Obama’s purposes than “transformative.”

[newheart]

[Michael van der Galien]

LOL

[cuban leaf]

I just read the whole (and short) article. The message? You lie down with dogs and you get up with fleas. This is a problem of the church’s own making. I liked the comments about Santorum at the end. I agree with him.

[Josephat]

Yes; it sounds like Santorum gets it. I will happily vote for him over Romney.