While the HHS contraceptive mandate was front and center during the Democratic National convention, the focus of considerable media attention, the cause of a nationwide protest movement including The Fortnight for Freedom, and the subject of dozens of lawsuits filed by Catholic colleges and other institutions, the issue of religious liberty was essentially ignored during the first presidential debate between President Barack Obama and former Governor Mitt Romney.
Moderator Jim Lehrer of PBS, who did a good job in many ways, failed to ask a question about this important issue despite the focus of the debate being domestic issues. But more surprisingly, President Obama, who couldn’t talk about anything else for the past few months, never spoke about the issue either. To be fair, he didn’t have a lot of time between his uhm’s and uh’s.
