Obama makes documentary mountain out of anti-Catholic birth control mandate molehill.

The title sounded better in my head.

What’s interesting is the sheer inadvisability of the administration’s position, here.

The Obama administration has gone to court to try to block a subpoena from the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York seeking White House documents about the government’s requirement of insurance coverage for birth control.

The subpoena requesting documents from President Barack Obama and his senior advisers would be burdensome to fulfill, the administration said in a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

Translation: the subpoena would be embarrassing to fulfill.  But the funny thing about embarrassment is this: you rarely die from it.

I mean, let’s contemplate what’s probably in the White House documents.  I predict that the cache will contain a good deal of mildly rude comments directed towards the Catholic Church, its hierarchy, and its recent history.  There will be quite a bit of off-the-cuff, somewhat inflammatory statements directed at devoutly religious groups and probably specific individuals, and many of those statements will be passive-aggressive accusations of racism, sexism, and homophobia.  At least the bare outlines of an ultimately unsuccessful sub rosa media campaign (involving Obama’s pet journalists and pet Catholics) will be revealed.  And, finally, there will be at least one document in which a top Obama official will be caught in writing advocating something that directly contradicts what he or she says in public.  That’s what I think are in the White House documents.

[pause]

…And?

I mean, it’s no secret that the Left despises the Roman Catholic Church, and that the Democratic party routinely requires its Catholic politicians to flagrantly disobey Church teachings on life issues.  It’s also no secret that we have one of the most childish White House staffs in living memory (Barack Obama has had bad luck in his Chief of Staffs, which is why he’s on his fifth one right now).  And it’s certainly no secret that this administration tries to browbeat ostensibly-friendly groups into doing its bidding.  None of which is actually illegal; just… embarrassing.  And a prudent administration would be prepared to swallow its pride, let the documents come out, and ride out whatever transient setbacks appeared as a result.  But that would… negatively impact… the White House’s self-delusion that they’re hyper-competent, so apparently they’ve decided to turn a small issue into a somewhat larger one.

Works for me.

Moe Lane

Via @nycjim.