I think there was a tone-deafness. I think maybe the Mitt Romney thing is contagious. This was after the president in private conversations and in public speeches at the commencement address at Notre Dame had said, we're going to work out a compromise. We will work this out.

Columnists Mark Shields and David Brooks discuss anger among Catholics over the Obama administration requiring social service providers to include contraceptives in health coverage in the PBS Newshour.

JUDY WOODRUFF: So, final thing I want to ask you: two developments this week around social -- sensitive social issues. One was the Susan Komen Foundation changing course on money for Planned Parenthood. And the other one had to do with something that came out of the health -- health agency this week.

But let me ask you about the second first. Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of Health for the Obama administration, announced that social service providers have to include contraceptives in their health coverage, whatever a group's religious or ethical views are.

Mark, what is the fallout from this?

MARK SHIELDS: The fallout is cataclysmic for the White House and for the president.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Really?

MARK SHIELDS: Yes, cataclysmic. I'm not talking about -- and I say this as a Catholic. I'm not talking about Catholics who attend mass every Sunday.

Catholics who attend mass here regularly take great pride in the social mission of Catholic Church to provide the -- to feed the hungry, to provide shelter for those who are homeless, to take care of those who are lonely, and the immigrant.

And there is a great sense of pride that this is the mission of Catholic Church. It's part of the definition of the Catholic Church. And what President Obama has done with this policy, and Secretary Sebelius, quite bluntly, is they have taken those Catholics who took a risk to support them, Father John Jenkins, the president of Notre Dame, and Sister Carol Keehan, who is the president of the Catholic Health Association, and Father Larry Snyder, who is president of Catholic Charities, who have taken on orthodox, more conservative groups within their own Catholic Church to support the president, especially his efforts on the poor, and he has left them out to dry.

I mean, he really has, with -- in just a policy that I think is, quite frankly, indefensible.

JUDY WOODRUFF: So what are the implications?

DAVID BROOKS: Yes. I agree. I think that it is enormous. I think it was the most under-reported story of many months, because you have Catholics who are upset. You have evangelicals who are really upset.

And whatever problem they had with Mitt Romney, that has now healed. They have now united with Mitt Romney because they are so upset about this story. And a lot of people think we are a diverse country, we have a lot of different values, that government should get involved -- it gives money to a lot of these associations -- but it should give different people with different values the ability to operate in a way they see fit.

When you have the government saying one size fits all, sort of a form of bureaucratic greed, you are going to do it our way, or not, well, then that insults a lot of people. And so I think this is having resonance across the country. It was -- statements were issued in a lot of masses, a lot of pulpits this past Sunday. And, you know, I think it's going to have a significant lingering effect for a long time.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Why did the administration do it, then, Mark?

MARK SHIELDS: I honestly don't know. I think there was a tone-deafness. I think maybe the Mitt Romney thing is contagious.

I mean, there just really was. This was after the president in private conversations and in public speeches at the commencement address at Notre Dame had said, we're going to work out a compromise. We will work this out. We will have a solution that respects the conscience.

The conscience clause is deep in our tradition. It's Quakers at time of war. It's Seventh-day Adventist not being forced to work on the Sabbath. It's Orthodox Jews being given kosher food. You know, it just really, to me -- I don't know. You can make a political calculation, but I honestly don't know why they did it.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Do you have a sense of why?

DAVID BROOKS: No, and it is a great mystery.

I hear conspiracy theories. Who switched the president's mind? Who would have the power to change his mind after he had made these vows? I don't know. I really think they should come out and address it a little more, because not getting some of the front -page covers that I think it deserves. But it is out there.

JUDY WOODRUFF: But you are hearing that they may reverse?

DAVID BROOKS: No, no, no, I don't mean to say that. I mean to say that there is a lot of popular upset about this, and within the administration, by the way, there is some upset about this.

MARK SHIELDS: Judy, I mean, places like Scranton, Penn., Cincinnati, Ohio, the I-4 Corridor, Catholics in those -- I mean, Barack Obama carried Catholics with 54 percent in 2008.

I'm just saying that this appears to be distancing, if not dissing Catholics.