Hadley Arkes on Obama, Catholics, Kmiec, and Caveny

At "The Catholic Thing," Hadley Arkes posted his column, "Political Distraction Among Catholics."  It is well worth reading the whole thing.  He expresses, much more eloquently than I could, my thoughts on the subject.   Here is a bit: 

Is it a certain madness, a certain distraction of mind, induced by the sudden onset of summer heat? The polls in early June find Barack Obama notably behind among Evangelicals and whites, but--wonder of wonders--actually holding a slight edge, of a point or two, among Catholics.

Some of our readers know that I was associated with the drafting of the “most modest first step of all on abortion,” the bill to preserve the life of the child who survived an abortion. It was called, in that awful legislative style, the Born-Alive Infants’ Protection Act. When it finally passed the Congress in 2002, not a single Democrat in Congress voted in opposition. But Barack Obama, as a Senator in Illinois, actually led the opposition to the comparable measure in that state, and as the chairman of a legislative committee managed to kill it. How does one explain then this close division among Catholics, with a tilt actually in his favor? And what is the worse account: that most Catholics in the country simply do not know about his radical, pro-abortion position, or that American Catholics by now have heard about Obama’s position, and they don’t especially care?

The latter account would surely mark the graver state of affairs. And the signs seem to be pointing in that direction, as seen in the positions reported recently for two prominent Catholic academics, both thoughtful, sensible people, moving in those circles I move in myself. Douglas Kmiec, a good friend, had been Dean of the Law School at Catholic University and Cathleen Kaveny, is a professor of law at Notre Dame. Kmiec joined a meeting of Catholics with Obama and pronounced him a “natural for the Catholic vote.” Kmiec became persuaded that Obama, radically pro-choice, would nevertheless be open to serious measures for “reducing the number of abortions.” Kaveny could hardly be unaware of Obama’s position on abortion, and yet she thinks that other parts of Obama’s program would fit a Catholic vision--most notably, "ending the unjust war in Iraq, providing decent jobs, ensuring affordable health care for all, and working for comprehensive immigration reform."

On the matter of reducing the number of abortions, …

As for the matter of “balancing” abortion with other issues, …

* * *

To put things on the same plane, in that way is to betray a scheme of judgment with no sense of moral weighting or discrimination. Doug Kmiec and Cathy Kaveny share the vocation of teaching, but from either angle they would teach their fellow Catholics now that the central concern for the taking of innocent life is no longer, in the scale of things, that much more important than anything else. Even the most thoughtful among us may not always get things right, and at those times the office of friendship may be to call our friends to their better judgment.

HT:  Bill Saunders