Can a Catholic Support Him?: Asking the Big Questions about Barack Obama

This book is thoughtful and well argued, and at points very touching. It lays out the case for how Catholics can vote for Obama, and why he may be the best, albeit imperfect candidate for Catholics. It outlines the difficult, well-thought-out path Kmiec took to get to his now famous March 2008 endorsement of Obama, and the significant and emotional repercussions. This book is written by a faithful Catholic who is a former legal counsel to 2 republican presidents, and someone who has chronicled his intellectual journey and its after-effects of supporting Sen. Obama. This book should not be taken lightly, and all Catholics of good will should read this book.

Douglas Kmiec, legal scholar has cut through the jungle of acrimony that obscures pragmatic reductions of USA abortions. While favoring reversal of Roe-Wade, he realizes such reversal as not necessarily being an ultimmate solution. A devout Catholic, he opines that the election of Obama could actually reduce the perceived need for abortion by many poor women faced with difficult choices. More than that, he identifies Obama's value horizon as containing much that is integral to the Catholic Social Justice tradition. This book will likely be rejected by Pro Choice devotees on the far left and those Pro-Life devotees who are on the far right. But for pragmarists in the middle (a seeming majority of Americans) and especially for devout Catholic readers, Kmiec's "Can A Catholic Support Him?" is an important read. Father Willim John Fitzgerald

Haved you ever tried to convince a Catholic friend or relative that Obama is the candidate of real Catholic values? Have you hit the wall when it comes to the abortion issue? Have you struggled with supporting a candidate that does not call specifically for overturning Roe? Then, this is the book to read. Prof. Kmiec, a law professor of constitutional law, has a unique perspective. He is a Republican who served in both Reagan and Bush-1's administrations and is supporting Obama. He explains how overturning Roe doesn't end abortion, but only sends the decision back to the states. So, then each state will decide for itself---How can we expect a uniformity among states on a moral issue when they can't even agree on the same speed limit? So, then you start to understand one of his arguments for Obama---if the goal is less abortions, overturning Roe does not accomplish this. Kmeic outlines the factors that contribute to a woman choosing an abortion---poverty, lack of family support, healthcare, etc. Obama is addressing these very issues that comprise the social justice teachings of Catholicism. He also explains how "Republican faith partisans" have manipulated the Catholic vote with the abortion issue. So, read the book and see why a conservative Catholic and lifelong Republican is supporting Obama.

What a brilliant book which clearly states what millions are thinking but not saying. I say go and buy it now!!!

So polarized are our politics and our churches these days that it takes a Republican praising the Democratic candidate in order to create enough interest in the hidden truth beneath the 35-year struggle over abortion. Prof Doug Kmiec has written a deeply thoughtful, well-reasoned discussion of why the Democratic approach to solving the abortion problem should appeal to Catholics of all ideological stripes. The extremists on both ends of the rope have profited handsomely over the years from playing up the pro-choice vs anti-abortion debate, to the frustration of most of the rest of us. The rarely acknowledged dirty little secret is that the vast majority of Catholics and other people of faith believe simultaneously in both positions: that the ideal would be to bring every baby into the world, but that there are grave unintended consequences from trying to criminalize the decision. Conservatives love to talk about the 43 million abortions since Roe-v-Wade, but they never acknowledge the 43 million that came before 1973--when abortion was largely illegal. In other words, illegality has been tried before, and found to be sorely wanting as a strategy to fix the problem. Add on top of that the fact that abortions rose substantially under Reagan and the first Bush, and then fell steeply under President Clinton. Now the data shows convincingly that abortion rates have stagnated under President Bush. Prof Kmiec points out that the punishmentalists have clearly been betting on the wrong horse, content to take a chance that abortion might possibly be outlawed sometime in the very distant future, rather than supporting a Democratic position with a proven track record of abortion reduction in the here-and-now. Reconciliation being a cardinal principle of Catholicism, Dr Kmiec makes a convincing case that supporting an Obama presidency is the more rewarding way to address the tragedy of abortion for anyone who has seriously grappled with this problem in all its complexity.