Feds Didn't Foresee Birth Control Backlash
WASHINGTON -- it is not like he wasn't warned.
As President Barack Obama thought of a choice on contraception that may transform an sudden political nightmare, he heard it from within and outdoors his White House: He risked a fierce backlash if he needed spiritual employers to produce insurance coverage for contraception in violation of their beliefs.
Over the course of months, Catholic teams and officers spoke with White House aides, sent letters and wrote opinion columns. vp Joe Biden and Obama's then-chief of employees, Bill Daley, each Catholics, and alternative high administration officers spoke of the requirement to remember of the implications, given how Catholic teams would read the choice and the way it'd have an effect on them.
But the president was hearing from the opposite aspect, too. Women's health advocates and their allies within the White House were adamant concerning the importance of constructing free contraception offered to all or any women; to them, it had been a matter of health and fairness. Democratic senators and senior advisers joined in.
In the end, that is where Obama reduced.
What came next evidently shocked the White House.
There were furious protests from Catholic teams, together with administration allies. Republicans and even some Democrats.
The rising furor threatened to overwhelm the president's message and have an effect on his re-election hopes. With no sign of the firestorm abating, Obama announced a hasty and embarrassing backtrack Friday.
"This is a difficulty where folks of fine can on either side of the controversy are sorting through some terribly difficult inquiries to realize an answer that works for everybody. With today's announcement, we've done that," Obama said. "Religious liberty are protected, and a law that needs free preventive care won't discriminate against ladies."
Similar solutions had been advocated to the White House for months.
According to a senior administration official, some approaches were thought of and rejected as unworkable, however what came out Friday merely hadn't occurred to administration officers weeks earlier.
Back then, administration officers maybe did not feel an equivalent sense of urgency, in step with the official, who said the policy method may are stronger. The official insisted on anonymity to debate internal deliberations.
To many, it appeared a needlessly self-inflicted wound for a president known for taking a politically cautious approach. The White House insisted Obama was attuned to the issues of spiritual employers, particularly since he had worked with Catholic parishes early in his career as a community organizer in Chicago, which he meant to deal with those issues in time.
But to some Catholics it appeared the administration didn't perceive their issues and the way the choice would resonate.
"Lord is aware of we tend to tried" to warn the administration, said Simone Campbell, govt director of Network, a Catholic social justice lobby.
Campbell said the administration appeared targeted on the health problems concerned in putting Obama's health care law in place. "Even though a bunch folks weighed in and said there was this alternative layer of concern, it's like higher than where they ordinarily focus, therefore it simply did not compute," Campbell said.
"I do not suppose they totally understood the spiritual liberty facet and that i definitely do not suppose they understood simply how it might be received by Catholics," said Stephen Schneck, a political scientist at the Catholic University of America.
They soon would establish.
___
The administration announced the first policy on Jan. 20.
Within hours, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops referred to as it an affront to spiritual liberty and urged Catholics to inform their elected leaders to rescind it. Cardinal-designate Timothy Dolan of recent York, the conference's president, appeared in an exceedingly net video to accuse the administration of being "on the incorrect facet of the Constitution."
About a week later, clergymen scan letters from bishops in churches across the state, expressing their issues.
Republicans soon pounced. Republican presidential candidates Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich accused the president of an attack on faith. Congressional Republicans announced plans to overturn the policy.
The White House began hearing from usually supportive outsiders similarly.
Commentators like E.J. Dionne and Mark Shields jumped on Obama for displaying a tin ear to Catholic issues.
Former Indiana congressman and ambassador Tim Roemer and alternative moderate Democrats spoke out. Among the organizations that mobilized was Democrats for all times of America.
"It became apparent that this wasn't progressing to be one thing that was simply progressing to lose steam," said Kristen Day, the group's govt director. "The ranks were truly increasing instead of decreasing."
Former Rep. Bart Stupak, a Michigan Democrat, said he and Roemer offered the angle of 2 lawmakers who had represented conservative Democratic districts.
Stupak said he questioned, "Why would you choose this fight in an election year? In any year, to inform you the reality."
"At initial they were variety of cool: `We grasp what we're doing, we'll get it resolved,'" Stupak said of the White House. "Toward the tip, within the last week, it absolutely was additional like, `We're acting on it, we've heard you. We'll get this issue behind us.'"
Several Democrats broke publicly with the president. Former Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, a recent chairman of the Democratic National Committee who is running for a U.S. Senate seat, said the White House "made a nasty call."
___
Even as pressure mounted, Democrats supporting access to contraceptives pushed to form positive the White House did not retreat.
For New Hampshire Sen. Jeanne Shaheen and alternative Democratic ladies within the Senate, their last chance to form their case came Wednesday, when the president took his motorcade to Nationals Stadium in Washington to fulfill with Senate Democrats.
Obama offered no hint an announcement was 2 days away, however below questioning he offered an assurance.
"He said to any or all folks that he was committed to the principle that girls ought to have access to that contraceptive coverage," Shaheen said.
That same day, administration officers together with senior adviser Valerie Jarrett and therefore the initial lady's chief of workers, Tina Tchen, convened a gathering with ladies's teams at the White House to urge additional women to talk out in support of the president's call, a Democratic official said.
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> Feds did not Foresee contraception Backlash
More standard Articles
Feds did not Foresee contraception Backlash
February eleven, 2012
emailEmail emailPrint free newsletterFree Newsletter
By ERICA WERNER, Associated Press
Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- it is not like he wasn't warned.
As President Barack Obama thought of a choice on contraception that may transform an sudden political nightmare, he heard it from within and outdoors his White House: He risked a fierce backlash if he needed spiritual employers to produce insurance coverage for contraception in violation of their beliefs.
Over the course of months, Catholic teams and officers spoke with White House aides, sent letters and wrote opinion columns. vp Joe Biden and Obama's then-chief of workers, Bill Daley, each Catholics, and alternative high administration officers spoke of the necessity to remember of the implications, given how Catholic teams would read the choice and the way it might have an effect on them.
But the president was hearing from the opposite facet, too. Women's health advocates and their allies within the White House were adamant concerning the importance of creating free contraception obtainable to any or all women; to them, it absolutely was a matter of health and fairness. Democratic senators and senior advisers joined in.
In the end, that is where Obama decreased.
What came next evidently shocked the White House.
There were furious protests from Catholic teams, together with administration allies. Republicans and even some Democrats.
The rising furor threatened to overwhelm the president's message and have an effect on his re-election hopes. With no sign of the firestorm abating, Obama announced a hasty and embarrassing backtrack Friday.
"This is a difficulty where folks of excellent can on each side of the talk are sorting through some terribly difficult inquiries to notice an answer that works for everybody. With today's announcement, we've done that," Obama said. "Religious liberty are going to be protected, and a law that needs free preventive care won't discriminate against ladies."
Under the approach, workers at church-affiliated establishments like Catholic hospitals or charities still may get free contraception coverage, however it might come back directly from their health insurer. Employers wouldn't offer or obtain it.
This resolution soothed some issues from spiritual teams whereas keeping women's teams glad.
So why wasn't this approach taken within the initial place?
___
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Similar solutions had been advocated to the White House for months.
According to a senior administration official, some approaches were thought of and rejected as unworkable, however what came out Friday merely hadn't occurred to administration officers weeks earlier.
Back then, administration officers maybe did not feel an equivalent sense of urgency, in step with the official, who said the policy method may are stronger. The official insisted on anonymity to debate internal deliberations.
To many, it appeared a needlessly self-inflicted wound for a president known for taking a politically cautious approach. The White House insisted Obama was attuned to the issues of spiritual employers, particularly since he had worked with Catholic parishes early in his career as a community organizer in Chicago, which he meant to deal with those issues in time.
But to some Catholics it appeared the administration didn't perceive their issues and the way the choice would resonate.
"Lord is aware of we tend to tried" to warn the administration, said Simone Campbell, govt director of Network, a Catholic social justice lobby.
Campbell said the administration appeared targeted on the health problems concerned in putting Obama's health care law in place. "Even though a bunch folks weighed in and said there was this alternative layer of concern, it's like higher than where they ordinarily focus, therefore it simply did not compute," Campbell said.
"I do not suppose they totally understood the spiritual liberty facet and that i definitely do not suppose they understood simply how it might be received by Catholics," said Stephen Schneck, a political scientist at the Catholic University of America.
They soon would establish.
___
The administration announced the first policy on Jan. 20.
Within hours, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops referred to as it an affront to spiritual liberty and urged Catholics to inform their elected leaders to rescind it. Cardinal-designate Timothy Dolan of recent York, the conference's president, appeared in an exceedingly net video to accuse the administration of being "on the incorrect facet of the Constitution."
About a week later, clergymen scan letters from bishops in churches across the state, expressing their issues.
Republicans soon pounced. Republican presidential candidates Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich accused the president of an attack on faith. Congressional Republicans announced plans to overturn the policy.
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The White House began hearing from usually supportive outsiders similarly.
Commentators like E.J. Dionne and Mark Shields jumped on Obama for displaying a tin ear to Catholic issues.
Former Indiana congressman and ambassador Tim Roemer and alternative moderate Democrats spoke out. Among the organizations that mobilized was Democrats for all times of America.
"It became apparent that this wasn't progressing to be one thing that was simply progressing to lose steam," said Kristen Day, the group's govt director. "The ranks were truly increasing instead of decreasing."
Former Rep. Bart Stupak, a Michigan Democrat, said he and Roemer offered the angle of 2 lawmakers who had represented conservative Democratic districts.
Stupak said he questioned, "Why would you choose this fight in an election year? In any year, to inform you the reality."
"At initial they were variety of cool: `We grasp what we're doing, we'll get it resolved,'" Stupak said of the White House. "Toward the tip, within the last week, it absolutely was additional like, `We're acting on it, we've heard you. We'll get this issue behind us.'"
Several Democrats broke publicly with the president. Former Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, a recent chairman of the Democratic National Committee who is running for a U.S. Senate seat, said the White House "made a nasty call."
___
Even as pressure mounted, Democrats supporting access to contraceptives pushed to form positive the White House did not retreat.
For New Hampshire Sen. Jeanne Shaheen and alternative Democratic ladies within the Senate, their last chance to form their case came Wednesday, when the president took his motorcade to Nationals Stadium in Washington to fulfill with Senate Democrats.
Obama offered no hint an announcement was 2 days away, however below questioning he offered an assurance.
"He said to any or all folks that he was committed to the principle that girls ought to have access to that contraceptive coverage," Shaheen said.
That same day, administration officers together with senior adviser Valerie Jarrett and therefore the initial lady's chief of workers, Tina Tchen, convened a gathering with ladies's teams at the White House to urge additional women to talk out in support of the president's call, a Democratic official said.
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Participants mentioned reframing the talk as less concerning the Catholic Church and additional a few war on ladies, the official said, insisting on anonymity to debate the non-public meeting.
By then it absolutely was already changing into clear that Obama would ought to amendment course. Some forty eight hours later, he stepped before the microphones within the White House briefing area to announce that he was.
Under the approach, staff at church-affiliated establishments like Catholic hospitals or charities still may get free contraception coverage, however it'd come back directly from their health insurer. Employers wouldn't give or procure it.
This answer soothed some issues from spiritual teams whereas keeping women's teams happy.
So why wasn't this approach taken within the initial place?
Tags: FED, Insurance News, New
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