Obama once walked on water. Today, he needs the Pope's support to make a move
By Christina Odone
How things have changed. Who would have imagined, back in 2008, that the pin-up of liberals around the world would need the Pope's support? No one. Just as no one would have said, in those dark days for the Catholic Church, that the leader of the much-reviled Vatican could ever add lustre to the leader of the free world.
It is a measure of Obama's failure and Francis's success that this week's visit to the Vatican by the US President has been seized by the White House as proof of the Pope's support for Obama. The Vatican, meanwhile, has downplayed the event, as if it does not want to be tarnished by association with the architect of Obamacare and a faltering foreign policy.
Back in 2008, Barack Obama held us rapt, in his thrall: he was black, brilliant, and above all, he was not Bush. He could walk on water. I remember weeping at his victory, and knowing that anyone who'd witnessed the racial tensions in the US in the 70s and 80s would have done the same. But that miraculous election proved to be the one thing Obama did right. From Guantanamo to Ukraine, Obama's administrations have turned out to be a huge disappointment.
Or worse. With his plans for Obamacare, he plunged the country into a culture war that has left his reputation badly bruised. America had always and admirably balanced secularism with respect for religious freedom. Obamacare upset that balance. By requiring religiously affiliated institutions to offer insurance coverage for birth control, the President's health care violated the Constitution's guarantee of religious freedom.
When Obama first outlined his health care package, he knew he didn't need to worry about the Vatican. Yes, he must beware of America's Catholic voters; but many among them were disenchanted with their Church hierarchy because of the paedophile priest scandals and the lingering whiff of corruption that clung to the curia. Obama figured this state of play would continue and see him victorious in the culture war he'd started.
Wrong. What no one – least of all the anti-Catholic Administration – had predicted was that Benedict XVI would resign from the papacy, making way for Papa Francis. In the new Pope, Catholics found a leader they could be proud of and the world, a spiritual figure they could love. Liberals of all nationalities trumpeted his humaneness and humility. Francis became so popular, Catholics regained their self-confidence.
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