The Elites Don't Get This

Barack Obama and his followers must have been very uncomfortable watching this astonishing display of religion and patriotism, as President Bush welcomed Pope Benedict XVI to America. From the New York Times:

The general tone on a day when he was feted by thousands of
flag-waving supporters on the streets of the capital appeared aimed at
celebrating and challenging more than scolding.
He found a kindred soul in
President Bush, who has made his Christianity a central tenet of his life as a
politician. Christian conservatives, including conservative Catholics, have been
a crucial component of the president’s political base, and the papal visit gave
the White House a fresh opportunity to reinforce those ties in an election
year.
The White House hosted a crowd of 13,500 on the South Lawn in the
morning, welcoming the pope with a 21-gun salute; a fife-and-drum band; the
soprano Kathleen Battle, who sang the Lord’s Prayer; and
two rounds of “Happy Birthday.”
The crowd burst into applause when Mr. Bush
told the pope that Americans “need your message that all life is sacred,” a
reference to the two men’s shared opposition to abortion rights.
The
president also adopted a trademark Benedict phrase when he said the nation
needed the pontiff’s “message to reject this dictatorship of relativism.”

Though I'm no fan of Catholicism, considering our own Protestant heritage, I do respect the Pope as an essential political ally of the West, as well as an outspoken proponent of moral values in our highly secular era. Wish more of our own religious leaders would speak as boldly on such matters of faith and politics.