Tom O'Toole
"Steeling" souls and "Cardinal" sins: Obama, pro-life's "Super-Foe"
By Tom O'Toole
With strong believers on both sides of the ball in today's big football game (although I'm personally pullin' for that back-from-the-dead former Arena Leaguer who gave Jesus his due when winning the Super Bowl MVP nine years ago, the faithful Cardinal QB Kurt Warner), there's a good chance you'll witness a player or coach's Christian testimony before the telecast concludes. But what you won't see is a splendid pro-life commercial its creators hoped would run during the Super Bowl, but was rejected by NBC on the grounds it was too political. Well, you can call me cynical, but as the commercial featured a mini-bio of abortion's now most powerful friend, President Barack Obama, I cannot help but see his heavy hand in this dreadful decision.
Aided by a largely "Party of Death" Congress and with the blessing of two pseudo-Christian preachers and one, Rick "The Pretender" Warren, who had the knowledge but not the guts to defy his new master, Barack Obama's first dozen days in office have already put a huge dent in the former Republican regime's pro-life agenda. First, after promoting the massive positive media coverage of his inauguration indoctrination, not only did perhaps the largest pro-life march ever (which descended on the Capital a mere two days later) get nary an MSM mention; but even EWTN, citing the administration's "security concerns" had to shorten their coverage. Then, with the pavement still warm from the pro-lifers' footprints — Obama, the man who duped millions on the campaign trail by promising he would work to "lessen" abortions — waited just one day after their righteous right-to-life march to overturn the "Mexico City Policy," which paved the way to send millions of U.S. tax dollars out of the country to pay for foreign abortions.
I'm not really sure, given his campaign statements, how Obama and his Party of Death comrades justify this instantaneous government-aided abortion increase. Perhaps they think that killing thousands of babies on foreign soil doesn't count against a promise he made to Americans, or maybe the killing of Mexican and other non-domestic infants is the Democrats' new strategy to limit immigration, just as spending money on contraception is Nancy "The Hokey" Pelosi's solution to stimulate the economy. Fortunately, the U.S. bishops' astoundingly successful campaign against the "Freedom of Choice Act," a strategy which has delivered millions of postcards protesting this policy to Washington in a matter of days, has for the meantime shifted the Donkey's focus away from FOCA. But even if Obama — who as many conservative sites have noted, has shifted or flip-flopped on every position except abortion — cannot convince his voter-wary minions to pass FOCA immediately, he will continue to sign many smaller pieces of legislation that could eventually make it superfluous.
Which brings us back to the Super Bowl, and the simultaneously pro-life, pro-Obama ad that Barack just couldn't hack. In this brilliant CatholicVote.org creation, the commercial opens with a shot of a baby in the womb, a child from "a broken home," "abandoned by his father," raised by a struggling "single mother" who "despite hardships" becomes ... "the first African-American president!" "Life," the commercial concludes, "Imagine the possibilities." Rarely have I seen the medium used so powerfully for the good, for in less than 60 seconds, the ad successfully turns Obama's abortion "mistake" argument on its head, for his rags-to-riches rise is really not the story of a pro-life foe, but that of a pro-life hero. You can see why this one hits too close to home for a president who has become obsessed with abortion, and since NBC turned down two other ads, coupled with the fact CV.org has the word "vote" in its title, the network's decision appears justified, at least on the surface. However, there is a huge difference between the CV.org ad and PETA's "Veggie Love" (featuring models in skimpy underwear treating vegetables as sex organs) or that of the group promoting (I'm not kidding) discrete adultery — namely, one is good and the others are evil. Still, since the adoring Obama public is more likely to youtube PETA's soft porn nonsense than the CatholicVote.org's masterpiece, they will probably never get the chance to judge the Truth for themselves.
Looking on the positive side, I suppose that these ads also prove that President Obama is not the Antichrist (at least not yet), for if he was, he not only would have banned the CV.org spot from the Super Bowl (while allowing the others), but removed it from the Internet, not to mention its producers from the face of the earth. Still, at this rate, after about forty days in office, I figure Barack will be at roughly the same spot Christ was after forty days in the desert: sitting with the devil (Matt 4:1-11) and being offered a chance to rule all the kingdoms of the world ... with just one catch. Thus, we must not only redouble our efforts to fight against the Culture of Death, but pray Barack makes the correct decision to become Super Hero rather than Super Foe. For if he does not, we who desire life for all might again encounter another for whom it would have been better if he hadn't been born (Matt 26:24).
© Tom O'Toole
February 1, 2009
With strong believers on both sides of the ball in today's big football game (although I'm personally pullin' for that back-from-the-dead former Arena Leaguer who gave Jesus his due when winning the Super Bowl MVP nine years ago, the faithful Cardinal QB Kurt Warner), there's a good chance you'll witness a player or coach's Christian testimony before the telecast concludes. But what you won't see is a splendid pro-life commercial its creators hoped would run during the Super Bowl, but was rejected by NBC on the grounds it was too political. Well, you can call me cynical, but as the commercial featured a mini-bio of abortion's now most powerful friend, President Barack Obama, I cannot help but see his heavy hand in this dreadful decision.
Aided by a largely "Party of Death" Congress and with the blessing of two pseudo-Christian preachers and one, Rick "The Pretender" Warren, who had the knowledge but not the guts to defy his new master, Barack Obama's first dozen days in office have already put a huge dent in the former Republican regime's pro-life agenda. First, after promoting the massive positive media coverage of his inauguration indoctrination, not only did perhaps the largest pro-life march ever (which descended on the Capital a mere two days later) get nary an MSM mention; but even EWTN, citing the administration's "security concerns" had to shorten their coverage. Then, with the pavement still warm from the pro-lifers' footprints — Obama, the man who duped millions on the campaign trail by promising he would work to "lessen" abortions — waited just one day after their righteous right-to-life march to overturn the "Mexico City Policy," which paved the way to send millions of U.S. tax dollars out of the country to pay for foreign abortions.
I'm not really sure, given his campaign statements, how Obama and his Party of Death comrades justify this instantaneous government-aided abortion increase. Perhaps they think that killing thousands of babies on foreign soil doesn't count against a promise he made to Americans, or maybe the killing of Mexican and other non-domestic infants is the Democrats' new strategy to limit immigration, just as spending money on contraception is Nancy "The Hokey" Pelosi's solution to stimulate the economy. Fortunately, the U.S. bishops' astoundingly successful campaign against the "Freedom of Choice Act," a strategy which has delivered millions of postcards protesting this policy to Washington in a matter of days, has for the meantime shifted the Donkey's focus away from FOCA. But even if Obama — who as many conservative sites have noted, has shifted or flip-flopped on every position except abortion — cannot convince his voter-wary minions to pass FOCA immediately, he will continue to sign many smaller pieces of legislation that could eventually make it superfluous.
Which brings us back to the Super Bowl, and the simultaneously pro-life, pro-Obama ad that Barack just couldn't hack. In this brilliant CatholicVote.org creation, the commercial opens with a shot of a baby in the womb, a child from "a broken home," "abandoned by his father," raised by a struggling "single mother" who "despite hardships" becomes ... "the first African-American president!" "Life," the commercial concludes, "Imagine the possibilities." Rarely have I seen the medium used so powerfully for the good, for in less than 60 seconds, the ad successfully turns Obama's abortion "mistake" argument on its head, for his rags-to-riches rise is really not the story of a pro-life foe, but that of a pro-life hero. You can see why this one hits too close to home for a president who has become obsessed with abortion, and since NBC turned down two other ads, coupled with the fact CV.org has the word "vote" in its title, the network's decision appears justified, at least on the surface. However, there is a huge difference between the CV.org ad and PETA's "Veggie Love" (featuring models in skimpy underwear treating vegetables as sex organs) or that of the group promoting (I'm not kidding) discrete adultery — namely, one is good and the others are evil. Still, since the adoring Obama public is more likely to youtube PETA's soft porn nonsense than the CatholicVote.org's masterpiece, they will probably never get the chance to judge the Truth for themselves.
Looking on the positive side, I suppose that these ads also prove that President Obama is not the Antichrist (at least not yet), for if he was, he not only would have banned the CV.org spot from the Super Bowl (while allowing the others), but removed it from the Internet, not to mention its producers from the face of the earth. Still, at this rate, after about forty days in office, I figure Barack will be at roughly the same spot Christ was after forty days in the desert: sitting with the devil (Matt 4:1-11) and being offered a chance to rule all the kingdoms of the world ... with just one catch. Thus, we must not only redouble our efforts to fight against the Culture of Death, but pray Barack makes the correct decision to become Super Hero rather than Super Foe. For if he does not, we who desire life for all might again encounter another for whom it would have been better if he hadn't been born (Matt 26:24).
© Tom O'Toole
The views expressed by RenewAmerica columnists are their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of RenewAmerica or its affiliates.
(See RenewAmerica's publishing standards.)
