Before we start to hyperventilate, inviting both presidential candidates to this dinner is standard practice. And I think the one that Dolan really wants to focus on is probably Romney, who has been irritatingly vague on exactly what he would do about the whole health care thing and had a really bad record in MA for forcing Church organizations and even individual Christians to do things that violated their standards. He forced all state employees to “marry” gays, for example, and forced Catholic hospital emergency rooms to distribute “morning after” pills. So I think Dolan probably wants to pin him down on exactly how, if at all, he differs from Bambi.
Everybody knows what Obama thinks (and in any case, I wouldn’t be surprised if he doesn’t show up because of some “last minute emergency). But Romney is very evasive on this issue. In fact, Romney’s pretty evasive on all issues.
I’ve been disappointed by Cardinals and Bishops so many times it’s hard not to hyperventilate. If Cardinal Dolan actually uses this forum to advance the termination of Obamacare, I will be the first to admit how wrong I was and how happy I am to be wrong.