Given how outspoken Cardinal O’Conner and (to a lesser extent?) Cardinal Egan are on the issue of abortion I doubt very much that the Obama campaign would try to play this up as any form of endorsement or approval. Jesus did after all hang around with thugs and hookers.
I disagree, in this case. This wasn't just a random, formal dinner where Cardinal Egan and Senator Obama both just happened to show up. This was an official Archdiocesan event to which Punished-with-a-Baby was invited and at which he was treated as an honored guest, seated by the Archbishop.
The unmistakable impression conveyed by this event is that, "We're all just good buds," and Obama's beliefs and actions regarding crucial moral issues don't matter in the slightest. I think Cardinal Egan should apologize to the faithful Catholics of the Archdiocese, and announce that no further dinners will be held unless the candidates of both parties renounce abortion and other assaults on human life.