Posted by Aaron Dean, Research Assistant

When President Barak Obama announced that religious institutions would be required to provide contraceptives to its employees’ as part of their healthcare plans many religious institutions, not the least of which being the Catholic Church, were up in arms. Then Obama announced a compromise where the healthcare providers could contact employees directly. Many claim that he caved to pressure, but I think it may have been a calculated ‘mistake’ instead of an actual flub on his part.

What we saw with the initial announcement was a boost in his approval ratings from Democrats and the 18-29 year old demographics, according to Gallup. Furthermore, his approval rating with those who attend church weekly didn’t change, although one would expect a drop in approval in that ranking. The point being he was trying to capture those who helped him win the last election while those who would be offended wouldn’t have voted for him anyway.

Not only did Obama gain support from Democrats and young voters, but he was able to shift the GOP away from talking about the economy and to start talking about their moral agendas. While the GOP candidates have been doing well talking about the economy, by shifting to morals, not only have we seen the GOP race take an interesting turn with Rick Santorum making a comeback, but the GOP seem to be out of touch with what most Americans feel is morally acceptable in America.



So what else makes me think Obama planned this instead of it just being a mistake? He came out of nowhere with a bold announcement. Obama never seems to try and do what happened with the contraceptive announcement. From a President that always seems to come off as very calculated, the whole incident was a bit out of character for him.

I don’t think there’s any way Obama didn’t think this through.