Does Obama have a conscious “divide and conquer” strategy with Catholics?

University of Alabama political scientist professor Michael New thinks so (in our news story on Dr. Benjamin).

Appointing pro-abortion Catholics “has the political advantages of showing that 1) there is disagreement among Catholics about sanctity-of-life issues and that 2) Catholics who support legal abortion can be successful politically.”

Remember what President Clinton did: He pitted others against each other, then “triangulated” above them, getting what he wanted by staying out of the fray.

Obama has positioned himself as the classy guy who’s above the fray: the Notre Dame speech giver, the president who met with Catholic journalists and with the Pope. He looks magnanimous; those of us who complain about pro-abortion Catholics look like the petty, small-minded ones.

But remember: Those who believe that some human beings’ right to life just doesn’t matter, however well they have mastered the game, can never claim the moral high ground. They are being played for fools by the abortion industry, and history will put them on the list of people who cooperated with the greatest evil of our day.

The chance remains that Dr. Benjamin is solid, and good people can do good things even in the Obama administration. We pray it is so.

But sadly, in Washington, D.C., the odds are usually in favor of the more cyncial explanation.