Obama , the Catholic Vote and the Bishops

FAITH COMPLEX

By Jacques Berlinerblau

Consider my interview with Father Thomas Reese of the Society of Jesus to be a primer in the ever-interesting, ever-complicated subject of the relation between the Obama administration and the American Catholic community.

What makes this all so interesting and complicated is the fact that whoppingly different assessments of this relation abound. How whoppingly different? Just compare Father Reese's views on the President's standing among American Catholics and the Vatican with those of theologian Michael Novak whom I interviewed a few weeks back.

As for Thomas Reese, who also blogs on this site, he has a well-earned reputation as an engaging, outspoken and impassioned public intellectual--and in our discussion he did not disappoint. Addressing the controversy over President Obama's recent Notre Dame visit he observes that "The bishops [who protested his appearance there] have been basically tricked into opposing the visit by people who are really Republican activists who work under the veil of pro-life organizations." Father Reese wonders aloud why the same Catholic groups that protested Obama's commencement invitation did not complain when Cardinal Egan hosted Obama at the Al Smith Dinner in New York.

He also drew attention to the "swing" Catholic vote, the 20% of the community that is not loyal to either political party and can be coaxed to the blue or red side of the ledger. Our guest points to a dilemma that I have noted here before. Namely, that American Catholic voters don't always vote in accordance with their bishops' teachings on issues like abortion and human embryonic stem cell research at the (a state of affairs of which must make folks in the Obama administration pretty darn happy).

Well, I have always said that the Catholic Vote is the hardest vote to understand. Hopefully this episode of Faith Complex renders it all a little less mystifying.

WATCH THE INTERVIEW

Jacques Berlinerblau is associate Professor and Director of the Program for Jewish Civilization at the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. He is the author of several books including, "Thumpin' It: The Use and Abuse of the Bible in Today's Presidential Politics" (Westminster John Knox).

By Jacques Berlinerblau |  June 14, 2009; 10:53 PM ET

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