What to Expect in the Coming Election

Within our Catholic community, which should be a reflection of Gospel values, we have sadly found some of the most uncharitable and nasty attacks on the President. Decent people -- Democrats, Independents and Republicans -- are turned off by these attacks, but still it is unsettling. During the coming election campaign, this Blog will be documenting some of the inappropriate attacks on the President from persons claiming to speak from a Catholic perspective. We recently provided to Catholic activists in the President’s re-election efforts some blog postings by Kevin Rice and some from the ‘Catholic Vote’ blog. We want to make sure these examples don’t disappear from the Internet as the election approaches.

But it should be remembered that if conservative Catholics choose to continue down this path, it only helps in our efforts for the President. I would encourage readers to look at my blog post from three years ago, here: http://catholicsforobama.blogspot.com/2008/11/my-sunday.html

Also, Yahoo News recently reported as follows:

On private call, Republicans say attacking Obama personally is too dangerous:

Republicans on a private Republican National Committee conference call with allies warned Tuesday that party surrogates should refrain from personal attacks against President Barack Obama, because such a strategy is too hazardous for the GOP.

"We're hesitant to jump on board with heavy attacks" personally against President Obama, Nicholas Thompson, the vice president of polling firm the Tarrance Group, said on the call. "There's a lot of people who feel sorry for him."

Recent polling data indicates that while the president suffers from significantly low job approval ratings, voters still give "high approval" to Obama personally, Thompson said.

Voters "don't think he's an evil man who's out to change the United States" for the worse--even though many of the same survey respondents agree that his policies have harmed the country, Thompson said. The upshot, Thompson stressed, is that Republicans should "exercise some caution" when talking about the president personally.

And the respected Republican political writer Michael Gerson penned in an article entitled “Obama's strange buoyancy poses challenge for GOP” the following:

…while voters may be disappointed with Obama's job performance, they have not turned on Obama himself. His personal approval is strong. Here, there is a significant gap between the American public and, well, me. I have often found Obama's public manner to be professorial and off-putting. Americans seem to think it calm, self-possessed and reassuring. Even in his failures, Obama does not seem hapless. He fully inhabits the public role of commander in chief. And Obama's commitment to his family — his protection of their privacy and normality — is widely admired.

The power of such favorable impressions should not be underestimated. Americans do not believe that Obama has succeeded, but they still want him to succeed….a campaign of personal attacks against the president would likely backfire.

Our hope is going to be that conservative Catholics clean up their act, but if not, then we need to document their attacks on the President and share it with the electorate. This Blog will be ready for that mission.