One reason Kathleen Sebelius may be a more dangerous v.p. choice than Tim Kaine.
Kathleen
SebeliuscalledPoliticoreportedsuch
a difficult groupNew MexicoPennsylvaniaSebelius attended a Catholic women's college, but she has
not made her Catholicism a central part of her political biography. She has stated
that her religious beliefs are private, a position that liberal Catholics have
been taking ever since JFK. When she gave the Democratic response to the last State
of the Union in January, she did not mention
her own faith or the nation's, and she didn't describe any of the challenges
facing the nation as moral challenges. This reticence to apply her faith to her
political life has a downside: It has severely limited her ability to
articulate a moral rationale for her commitment to other issues such as
universal health care, which the Catholic Church considers a moral obligation that
society owes its members.
Beyond her decision not to "speak Catholic," Sebelius
has a politically thorny relationship with her bishop. In April, she vetoed legislation
that would have beefed up efforts to enforce restrictions on abortion providers
in Kansas.
The law was aimed squarely at Dr. George Tiller, one of the nation's fiercest
defenders of late-term abortions. Sebelius said she vetoed the law because it was
clearly unconstitutional and would invite frivolous lawsuits, a position that
was supported by the Kansas City Star and various women's organizations.
Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas
City--Sebelius's own bishop--saw it differently: He went
public with his request that the governor refrain from presenting herself for
communion. In a column
in his diocesan paper, the archbishop called her behavior "scandalous"
before going on to say, "The spiritually lethal message, communicated by our governor, as well
as many other high-profile Catholics in public life, has been in effect: ‘The
church's teaching on abortion is optional.'" Sebelius did not offer any
public response to the archbishop's edict.
Archbishop
Naumann is one of a number of conservative prelates who have decided to use the
communion rail as a bludgeon in the culture war. (The most famous example came in
2004, when Archbishop Raymond Burke of St.
Louis forbade John Kerry from receiving communion within
his jurisdiction; another was when Douglas Kmiec, a former Department of
Justice official in the Reagan administration, was denied communion for his support of Obama this year.)
Naumann has been published in the conservative Catholic journal First
Things, a
magazine that often mimics White House talking points more faithfully than it
follows the teachings of the Catholic Church. And he has participated in the
National Catholic Prayer Breakfast, an annual event that's meant to bring
Catholics together with (mostly Republican) political leaders. In the event
that Obama selects Sebelius, we can expect Naumann to
take to the airwaves, and Obama's campaign could be forced into a
high-profile and unwelcome skirmish with a religious figure.
Tim Kaine, on
the other hand, has an easier relationship with the Catholic Church. To some
degree, this is a blessing of geography: He has the advantage of governing and
living in an area with more level-headed bishops. In Richmond,
Bishop Francis Xavier DiLorenzo is an established moderate who calls for "an
integrated approach to the Right to Life" on the diocese's website. True
right-wingers never advocate an "integrated approach" to anything,
let alone the right to life. In the northern half of the state, Bishop Paul
Loverde of Arlington
has established a similarly moderate reputation.