New Site Seeks 10,000 Catholics for Obama

By Jennifer Riley - Christian Post
Tuesday, July 15, 2008 - Web Link
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July 14, 2008

A new Web site recently launched with a goal of recruiting 10,000 Catholic volunteers to help solicit votes for presidential candidate Barack Obama.

Taking the title “10,000 Catholics for Obama,” the site features a section that offers reasons why Catholics should vote for the putative Democratic presidential nominee. The site, which is independent of the campaign, praised Obama’s policy positions that it claims would care for the poor, create a fair immigration system, and build a unifying leadership.

Its effort is in response to resistance by some Catholics to vote for Obama because of his support of abortion rights, which the Catholic Church is strongly against.

Last Thursday, Obama again emphasized that he “will never back down in defending a woman's right to choose" whether to have an abortion during a "Women for Obama" breakfast fundraiser with Sen. Hillary Clinton. His stance on life has prompted the Christian Defense Coalition to launch a campaign called "Barack Obama: The Abortion President." Posters advertising the campaign show Obama dressed up like Uncle Sam saying, "I Want You to Pay for Abortions,” noting that the Democratic candidate would have Catholics and evangelicals pay for abortions through his health care plan and other policies.

The pro-Obama Web site, however, is urging Catholics to focus not just on one or two issues but to consider the “holistic agenda” of the candidate as compared to Catholic teaching.

“We take the abortion issue very seriously but at the same time abortion has been used as a wedge issue to divide voters,” the site’s co-creator Peter James Kralovec said to Christian Broadcasting Network. “We have seen some resistance in some circles but we want to express some facts about the senator‘s record on abortion and change the dialogue on this issue.”