Sometimes, the very thing that could serve to become our demise becomes our pathway to victory when we choose to face it head-on and humble ourselves long enough to ask for a little help from the Almighty. Moses had his Red Sea, George Washington his Valley Forge, and Barack Obama has his 2012 re-election campaign.
Moses lifted his eyes and his staff toward heaven while George Washington bowed his head and bent his knee. And, Barack Obama? Why ask for help when you can take matters into your own hands by assuming the role of the Almighty? This attitude was on full display recently, when Obama attempted to drum up the female vote by forcing religious employers to dole out contraceptives despite their convictions.
Eric Allie / Cagle Cartoons (click to view more cartoons by Allie)
In 2008, women outvoted men for Obama by 7 percent (or 56 to 49). Obama won the unmarried female vote by 70 percent and 56 percent of females overall — but those numbers have been moving in the wrong direction ever since.
Overall, Obama’s approval numbers have inched upward to put him in a more favorable position for re-election. Nonetheless, statistics from a Gallup poll indicate the female voter block is up for grabs come November. The weekly presidential approval poll by Gallup (broken down demographically by age, marital status, church attendance, region, race, education, monthly income, party identification, ideology, and gender) should give everyone reason for pause.
Since the 70 percent approval number that peaked February, 2009, female approval numbers plummeted to 52 percent in February 2010, 49 percent in February 2011, and to 48 percent last week. (The multiple-year poll can be viewed here.)
These numbers shed some light as to why the administration would suddenly toss a false “female rights” contraception issue into the mix without anticipating the blowback. The real issue at hand is that the president intentionally stomped on the Constitution’s Free Exercise Clause that inhibits the federal government from interference in church matters.
It matters little that the administration recently “compromised” on its stance by placing the onus of offering free contraceptives on insurance companies rather than religious organizations. This so-called “compromise” was moot in that many religious organizations are also self-insured, henceforth placing them in a “darned-if-you-do-darned-if-you-don’t” position to either compromise on their beliefs or get out of the insurance business altogether. In the end, liberals get what liberals want, and the rest of us are left to clean up the mess.
Most troubling is that so few people are keen enough to notice the prowling lion roaming about: The contraception issue is eerily similar to the Obamacare discussion (not) — which began with the faux assertion of a looming national crisis. Obama and the Democratic-controlled Congress offered the electorate variant versions (orally and written) of Obamacare — to the point that everyone forgot about real issues at hand like the failing economy. Democrats wanted to talk about healthcare, and so they talked about healthcare, and they talked, and talked and talked. Like a nagging wife who refuses to take “no” for an answer, Democrats wore us down to the point that everyone was relieved when it was finally over without fully understanding the ramifications.
With a self-appointed “higher-than-the-Constitution” authority, Democrats began, controlled and ended the healthcare “discussion,” (mandate) without consideration for the majority of Americans who stood (and remain) in stark opposition to Obamacare.
And they are doing the same thing to us again, but this time they say it is about contraception and after that, it will be about something else — because this is what happens when the federal government tosses aside the Constitution and crosses into territory the Constitution was meant to protect.
Unless the Supreme Court deems Obamacare unconstitutional, all Americans, regardless of their religion (or irreligion), will have their own version of the Red Sea to cross. And if Barack Obama is still in charge, it might be smart to bring along your scuba gear.
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Susan Stamper Brown is an opinion page columnist, motivational speaker and military advocate who writes about politics, the military, the economy and culture. Email Susan at writestamper@gmail.com or her website at susanstamperbrown.com.
©2012 Susan Stamper Brown. Susan’s column is distributed exclusively by: Cagle Cartoons, Inc., newspaper syndicate. For info contact Cari Dawson Bartley. E-mail Cari@cagle.com, (800) 696-7561
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