A basic sense of the 2012 political race is that if the economy continues to show improvement, Barack Obama is looking good for re-election this fall, and if it doesn't, he's toast.
But might there be a social issue lurking that could haunt the President?
That's what some critics are saying regarding the administration's recent decision that Catholic charities, hospitals and schools must offer health insurance that includes contraception, which goes against Church doctrine.
Newt Gingrich told NBC's Meet The Press host David Gregory that President Obama is going to pay a political price for his administration's decision.
FMR. REP. GINGRICH: Well, I mean, you, you just managed to precisely repeat the Obama administration's line, which is also the American Civil Liberties Union line. The fact is what you're saying is there cannot be a genuinely Catholic university, there cannot be a genuinely Catholic hospital, that in fact it will have to be subordinated to the rules of a secular government. I mean, I happen to oppose rules that, that have, for example, forced Catholic Adoption Services to be closed because they're only willing to have adoptions for marriages between a man and a woman. There are states that now close that. I think that is a tremendous infringement of religious liberty. And I think you're saying the same thing. You're saying basically, "Oh, you can have the name on it, but you can't actually be a Catholic institution. You can't actually be an evangelical Christian institution. You can't actually be an orthodox Jewish institution because we the secular government are going to impose on you." I think that's—I think this is a very profound moment for Americans to decide…
This article appears in Feb 2-8, 2012.
