President Obama sees Pope Francis as political ally

Obama finds an ally on political controversies at the Vatican
By aligning with Pope Francis, President Obama can highlight agreement on issues with one of the world’s most respected figures. (Associated Press)

By aligning with Pope Francis, President Obama can highlight agreement on issues with one of the world’s most respected figures.

By Ben Wolfgang – The Washington Times – Tuesday, December 30, 2014
It’s not quite a gift from God but, politically, it may be the next best thing.

President Obama increasingly is finding a key policy ally in the Vatican, with Pope Francis standing virtually shoulder to shoulder with the White House on income inequality and a historic diplomatic reboot with communist Cuba. The pontiff next year also appears poised to offer greater support to the president on climate change initiatives and reportedly wants to be a leading voice at a U.N. global warming summit next year, where the American president will make perhaps his greatest pitch to date for more dramatic action on the environment.

For Mr. Obama and fellow Democrats, aligning with Francis offers clear benefits in the short-term, as they are able to highlight agreement on controversial issues with one of the most respected figures on the planet.
But in the long-term, analysts say, Democrats may pay something of a political price.

To soothe American Catholics, who may have grown suspicious of the church’s partnership with a liberal White House, the pope in the coming months and years is likely to zero in on fundamental disagreements with the Democratic Party on issues such as abortion and religious liberty, said Joseph Prud’homme, a political science professor and the director of the Institute for the Study of Religion, Politics, and Culture at Washington College.

“I believe Francis will remind the faithful in his position as supreme pastor about what he has consistently said about life and religious liberty. I hope, and I expect, that he will, after these initiatives [on Cuba and climate change], remind the faithful of the unending position of the church with respect to the sanctity of human life, the importance of religious liberty,” Mr. Prud’homme said.

He added that Francis could create a deeper, almost irreparable rift between the church and the Democratic Party and create further headaches for liberal Catholics in electoral politics unless the Democratic Party “changes and recalibrates its center of gravity away from these issues which, from the position of the church, represent grave and serious moral error.”

While abortion and other moral issues represent a philosophical chasm between the Catholic Church and the Democratic Party, the past several years have proved the two can work together. (Really, our last count of abortions was 1.3 million and is the leading platform for the Socialist Democratic Party and as far as religious liberties are concerned this administration has lined up with the Muslim Brotherhood and tried to thwart religious freedom in this country.  A good example is the following video of Bama making fun of christianity.).

The White House praised the pope this month for playing a critical role in a landmark deal with Cuba, one in which the U.S. will re-establish formal diplomatic ties and open an embassy in Havana for the first time in more than five decades.

Francis invited administration officials and representatives of Cuban President Raul Castro’s government to the Vatican for a series of meetings this fall. The first Latin American pope also sent letters to Mr. Obama and Mr. Castro, urging the two leaders to change course and end the isolation of the past 50 years.

“He played a very important role,” Mr. Obama said of the pontiff in an interview with ABC News this month. “The pope doesn’t wield armies. He can’t impose sanctions. But he can speak with great moral authority, and it makes a difference. And it certainly made a difference in this case.”

In a Dec. 17 statement, Francis welcomed the normalization of relations, and the White House circulated his words to members of the media.

The Vatican has long been critical of U.S. sanctions against Cuba. Pope John Paul II — one of the few world leaders to have been received by longtime strongman Fidel Castro in a business suit rather than fatigues — called the embargo an “oppressive, unjust and ethically unacceptable” burden on the poor during a pilgrimage to Cuba.

The pope also has become one of the Democrats’ biggest allies on income inequality, which Mr. Obama has cast as perhaps the biggest challenge facing the U.S. economy today.

Last year, Francis offered a clear rejection of “trickle-down economics,” seemingly embracing Democratic policies of greater redistribution of wealth to struggling Americans.

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In regards to President Obama and Pope Francis being an ally, there are some questions that were insinuated in this article and I will address these:

– Obama aligning with the Pope – Now why would Obama align with the Pope?  Reason is because Obama  has lost all credibility in the world.  Now Obama has to attach himself to someone who does have credibility.  All he is doing is using the Pope as a shield.  As I mentioned in past blogs, I am concerned for the Pope.  I have always been reminded – you are judged by the company you keep and then another one that could be used in this instance – keep your friends close, but your enemies even closer.  I wonder – which is it?

– Climate Change Initiatives –  What is climate change – It is a change in the statistical distribution  of weather patterns when that change lasts for an extended period of time (decades to millions of years).  It seems that some scientists question the accuracy of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) climate projects.  The Scientists are  arguing that global warming is primarily caused by natural processes, arguing that the cause of global warming is unknown, and that the global warming will have few negative consequences.  As seen by Al Gore, climate change is a  money-maker and my opinion is this panel is using climate change to restrict the manufacturing in the United States to continue to hurt our economy.  The fact that climate change is a money maker is why our leader has hooked on to this star.  It will be interesting to see what the Pope  will have to inject into the scientific field.

– Cuba – As far as the embargo is concerned, I have no problem with lifting the U.S, sanctions against Cuba.  I wonder what has been promised or what will the Vatican give or receive for the U.S. to lift these sanctions?   The advantages for Cuba is that America will give them aid as we are doing throughout the world (wealth distribution each year).  America has been sharing their wealth with the world since I have been born.  And, from what I can see enough will never be enough for the lazy people of the world.  The American people have worked hard to achieve the successes it has earned and now we have one person who wants to take the country’s wealth and distribute it.  I do  not think the American people will stand by idly and allow it!

– Income Inequality – This is just a contrived problem in this administration as part of the Alinsky goal to hurt the country.  See the followings blogs which will describe my feelings on this topic:   blog Kommonsentsjane – Contrived Income/Wealth Inequality, posted on October 27, 2014,  blog Kommonsentsjane – Class Warfare posted on January 24, 2014, Class warfare II dated June 6, 2014, and Class warfare III dated June 10, 2014.

As we all know, this leader has put a hurt on the American people and the country by his ideology and hate for the country.  He is attaching himself to the Pontiff because of his own demise.  But if the Pope attached himself to the leader,  I am concerned.  If the Pope truly does not like “trickle down economics” then the Vatican also needs to share their wealth with the world if he expects America to share their wealth.  The Pope has to realize the American people are the most giving people in the world – where do you see other countries  contributing to the world’s disasters and wars? Out of many, America is the few!

The Pope stated earlier:  Look at the nature of power.  In Europe and now in America elected men have taken it  upon themselves to in debt their people to create an atmosphere of dependency.  And why?  FOR THEIR OWN SELFISH NEED TO INCREASE THEIR OWN PERSONAL POWER.  I’ve been a keen observer of the effect this has on the people, especially the poor.  They are very good at creating poverty where there is no reason to explain it.

So here you have it folks in a nutshell what Obama has done to America!  Some of you might disagree and that is fine!

kommonsentsjane