You gotta have faith

Joe Biden's nomination as Barack Obama's running mate casts a shadow over the the Democrats' campaign. 

You gotta have faith, faith, faith.

I doubt very much that when fallen pop star George Michael was singing those words in his 1987 hit song “Faith”, he was envisioning the Democratic presidential ticket of 2008, but faith is what Senator Joe Biden brings to Barack Obama’s presidential campaign. Much has been written about Senator Biden’s extensive experience on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, filling a hole that is seen as lacking on the Obama ticket, the junior Senator from Illinois’ lack of foreign policy experience. I have no doubt Biden brings much to the table in the foreign policy field, but I still think Biden’s appointment was made to attract voters the Obama camp has not been able to draw, working-class Catholics.

Senator Biden is one of the most recognizable and senior ranking Catholics in the US Capitol and despite 36 years of earning a senator’s salary he maintains a reputation as a blue-collar kind of guy based on his roots in working class Scranton, Pennsylvania. During the Democratic primaries, it was this base of support, working-class, white, Catholic voters that Barack Obama had the most trouble attracting. While Obama swept self-described liberals and secularists, he could not compete with Hillary Clinton in winning the Catholic vote.

Why is this important? Because Catholic voters decide elections. While much attention has been paid to evangelical voters over the past eight years, this religiously minded group of voters leans overwhelmingly, though not exclusively Republican. Catholics, who like Evangelical Protestants, make up close a quarter of the American population, are a less homogenous voting bloc.

Since 1972, the winner of the popular vote in presidential elections has taken the plurality of the Catholic vote. In 2000, with the nation divided, so were Catholic voters: 50 percent favoured Al Gore to 47 percent backing George W. Bush. Gore won the popular vote but not the all important electoral college. In 2004 President Bush won the Catholic vote 52 percent to Catholic candidate John Kerry’s 47 percent. In 2008, as in all elections over the last 36 years, Catholics are swing voters, up for grabs to the campaign that can best woo voters who identify with their faith even if it may not guide their ballot.

So does all this mean that by appointing Catholic Joe Biden that the Obama campaign can pick up all of the disgruntled Hillary supporters and cruise to victory in November. Perhaps, but likely not. An initial poll by Zogby International shortly after Obama’s selection of Biden showed a bump for the Democrats, putting Obama back in the lead after McCain briefly stole it away. Zogby’s previous poll showing McCain in the lead was also showing Obama losing Catholic support. The hope is that Biden will help shore that up. Yet as Sheila Liaugminas points out on the MercatorNet Election2008 blog, Biden’s appointment and his faith bring challenges. Biden supports abortion in direct opposition to the faith he so openly talks about.

“This revives the issue of the Catholic divide, between those who ‘run afoul of church teachings’ and interpret them to fit a liberal view of human rights and social justice… and those whose public actions are informed by Church teachings on all matters of human rights and peace and justice.”

Among those on the side of Catholic politicians backing Catholic teaching on matters like abortion is the group Fidelis, an organization that proclaims itself to be “Faithful, Loyal, True” when it comes to Church teaching. In a statement shortly after Biden’s appointment its president, Brian Burch, said that Biden’s appointment reopens a Catholic wound

“Now everywhere Biden campaigns, we’ll have this question of whether a pro-abortion Catholic can receive Communion. Senator Biden is an unrepentant supporter of abortion in direct opposition to the Church he claims as his own. Selecting a pro-abortion Catholic is a slap in the face to Catholic voters.”

As Democrats gather in Denver to officially nominate their new leadership, some powerful Catholic clergy are already asking questions. Charles Chaput, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Denver is quoted by the Associated Press: “I presume that his integrity will lead him to refrain from presenting himself for Communion, if he supports a false 'right' to abortion." The Obama campaign either unwittingly or unwisely named a dissenting Catholic as their vice-presidential nominee as the party gathers to unite in a city where the Catholic faithful are lead by one of the most outspoken and influential bishops in America today.

In Biden’s home diocese of Wilmington, Delaware, Bishop Michael Saltarelli is on the record as saying Biden and other pro-abortion Catholic politicians are not allowed to speak at Catholic schools. In 2004 he stated that "Our Catholic institutions will not honor Catholic politicians who take pro-abortion legislative positions or invite them to speak at our functions or schools." So, even if he becomes Vice-President, Biden would not be allowed to speak at Catholic schools he once attended and supported.

During the 2004 campaign, Senator John Kerry had to deal with calls for him to be denied communion, a distinct possibility in some parishes then for Kerry and now for Biden. While Biden’s current bishop says he prefers "active engagement and dialogue" to banning someone from communion and Denver’s Archbishop Chaput is likely to ask those who rebuke Church teachings to exclude themselves, others in the Catholic hierarchy, including Pope Benedict, have insisted that politicians who support abortion cannot take communion.

Will any of this matter to the average Catholic voter? Some will be turned off by news of Biden’s stance against the Church; others will resent what they see as the Church interfering with politics. For most Catholic voters though, this point is unlikely to matter. Except... except, it adds to the cloud of negatives each side will throw at the other during the campaign. Biden has already been described as Obama’s attack dog but he will be attacked on this very issue. The issue itself may have a minor impact but if the hope is to attract Catholic voters, a negative impression is not what you want.

Senator Joe Biden has rightly said that his party, the modern Democratic Party, must deal with faith and religion. Sometime during this campaign, Senator Joe Biden will have to deal with his own faith and religion.

Brian Lilley is Ottawa Bureau Chief for radio stations 1010 CFRB in Toronto and CJAD 800 in Montreal. He is Associate Editor of MercatorNet.

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