COMMENTARY | As reported by Ed Henry at foxnews.com, President Obama has decided to ease his position regarding a new provision in the health reform law which, as of 2013, will require employers' health insurance plans to provide free contraceptives to employees. When this new provision was announced on January 20, religious organizations such as the Catholic Church reacted with outrage at what they interpreted as an attack on their religious freedoms.
Church leaders were highly vocal about their opposition to this policy, and the White House found itself caught in an unwanted election-year controversy. The Obama administration has stated, however, that its willingness to accommodate religious organizations through exemptions does not constitute a compromise on what it sees as an important provision for the health reform law.
According to an Edison Media Research/Mitofsky International exit poll, 54 percent of Catholics voted for Obama in the 2008 Presidential Election. As such, this demographic is likely seen as vital by the administration and a loss of support by this group could prove damaging in an election year that is already heated.
The damage was not isolated to the Catholic Church. As reported by ABC OTUS News, several Democratic Senators, including Ben Nelson of Nebraska and Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, have expressed concerns about the provision. Both senators, along with a handful of others, stated that the policy represented an infringement on religious freedoms by the federal government and should therefore be modified.
Given the heated reactions to this new provision, including those from within the administration's own party, it is not surprising that Obama officials have chosen to accommodate religious organizations and stifle a controversy that could come back to haunt the re-election campaign. The real question is why experienced strategists would not have predicted this very logical reaction to a provision that guarantees controversy out of the gate. It will surely become recognized as one of the most glaring missteps committed by the Obama administration during what has already proven to be an especially trying election year.
Whether this misstep will produce tangible results for Obama's Republican opponent during the general election, one can assume that it will become a significant part of that opponent's arsenal.
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