Santorum has only done well since the Catholic vote was mobilised.
It’s almost as if Obama has helped him....
But of course Obama knows he can beat Santorum. Anyone can.
I don't think President Obama understands religion or religious motivations. So you may be right.
If you are right that Obama deliberately torqued off Roman Catholics to help Rick Santorum, he's going to find it's harder to get that anger back in the bottle than he thinks.
Key parts of the Democratic Party constituency are Roman Catholic but have voted for Republicans in the past based on social issues. Those “Reagan Democrats” tend to live in key states. Infuriating the bishops and the Roman Catholic hospitals at the same time is not a recipe for winning Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, or Florida, and if Obama keeps going what he's doing, he may end up putting several normally Democrat states into the Republican column based on angry Hispanic Roman Catholic votes.
Demographics being what they are, that could be a very, very good thing for many years down the road. I'm a conservative evangelical Protestant, but I'd much rather see the Republican Party led by Mass-going Catholics with names like Gomez and Gutierrez than by people who act like Romney and McCain. (Since I already know Spanish, I guess I won't mind letting the Democrats try to take the anti-immigrant vote — I'm in favor of immigration, but it needs to be LEGAL immigration meeting demonstrated economic needs in the US economy.)
All I care about is stopping Romney at this point, and it appears for the moment that Santorum may be the only one left that can stop the Romney slime machine.
And if we lose it November, it will be ROMNEY’s fault! for destroying everyone that could have beaten Obama.