Deal Hudson writes an open letter to Prof. Doug Kmiec, a prominent Catholic who has endorsed Obama:
…Abortion, infanticide, and marriage — Obama’s positions on these issues alone make it impossible for me to support him. McCain, on the other hand, is reliable. His position on embryonic stem cells does not create equivalence between him and Obama on the life issue – the difference between the two candidates on life and marriage is stark.
I have noted, of course, your concern about the Iraq War. You argue that Catholic voters should reevaluate their support for President Bush, the GOP, and John McCain because of the war. You have come close to saying, but not quite, that support for the invasion and occupation of Iraq weakens any claim that Bush, McCain, or the GOP are closer to Catholic social teaching than the Democrats or Obama.
On this, once again, I cannot agree. President Bush has been the most committed pro-life president since Roe v. Wade. The abortion rate in the United States is at its lowest since 1974. The achievement of Bush and the GOP controlled Congress in limiting abortion cannot be offset by the Iraq War.
Whatever you think of the war, it is within the prudential prerogative of the president and the Congress, according to Church teaching, to make this decision (Catechism of the Catholic Church #2309). At the time of the invasion, Democrats as well as Republicans supported it.
There is no official Catholic position for or against the Iraq War…
…Some Catholics have argued that if Obama and McCain were compared on prudential matters only – health care, poverty, minimum wage, energy, taxes, immigration, national security, war & peace – Obama would be their choice. If Obama and McCain held exactly the same positions on abortion and marriage, I would still opt for McCain on prudential grounds, but that is not, I believe, where the argument lies.
The argument between us is about those positions the Church has taught should not be compromised by our political judgment. In all that you have written and said, I still have not found a compelling reason that justifies your public support for Barack Obama.
Much is made in Democratic attempts to woo Catholic voters about how Democrats care about the poor and in keeping with the “seamless garment” urged by the US Bishops on such matters, the fact of Democratic support for abortion rights pales in comparison to an alleged GOP disdain for the poor. This is an arguable point, but my contention is that the social spending Democrats wish to apply to poverty actually deepens poverty – it takes the suffering poor and makes them the parasitic, suffering poor. A brother or sister who needs a hand is magically transformed by the welfare State into a shiftless leech.
Given the failure of the Democrats’ poverty plans to actually alleviate poverty, we’re left then with the Democrats views on abortion, marriage and infanticide – without a counterbalancing reality of helping the poor, the evil of Democratic support for the Culture of Death is just that much more stark, and Obama’s fawning devotion to the most extreme of pro-abortion positions makes it impossible for me, as a Catholic, to ever consider casting a vote for him. It doesn’t at all surprise me that many Catholic Democrats are backing Obama – these are the same Catholics who yammer on about women priests, married priests, birth control and other positions in direct opposition to Church teaching. Its expected – but what wasn’t ever expected was someone like Kmiec falling for the Obama delusion.
In the end we all must do what we think is best – I hope that Kmiec has thought this through carefully and that his decision is based entirely upon his convictions about what is best for society in accordance with Church teaching. My conscience, instructed by our mutual faith, leads me to a very different conclusion, and I do wonder if any Catholic who fully considers everything in relation to the whole can really justify a vote for Obama.
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