Team Obama is struggling to control the fallout that has followed the administration’s decision to require faith-based employers to offer their workers free contraceptive coverage.
Polls show a new Obama administration rule that requires faith-based employers to offer workers free contraceptive coverage is popular, even among Catholics — but the actions of the president’s top advisers Tuesday showed just how worried they are about a backlash.
A remark from Obama’s senior campaign strategist David Axelrod that the White House might be open to a compromise marked an unexpected turn in the fight and set off a Washington guessing game about the administration’s intentions.
White House officials insisted their position hasn’t changed, but Axelrod’s comments quickly became a Rorschach test for advocates on both sides of a dispute stoked by Republican presidential candidates, liberal and conservative Catholics, cable TV pundits.