Cardinal George & President Obama: an inconspicuous meeting

Michael Paulson at Articles of Faith gives us the summary:

President Obama today met at the White House with Cardinal Francis E. George, who is the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The two men are both from Chicago, and had met one another several times before Obama's election, but they do not have much of a personal relationship. No word yet on the substance of today's meeting, but the bishops' conference has been critical of Obama's decision to allow embryonic stem cell research and to lift the so-called global gag rule, and has expressed concern about possible changes to what the bishops call "conscience protections for health care workers."

He also includes the statements of the White House and the U.S. Bishops.

Nothing can be gleaned from them, except that it lasted 30 minutes.

Stalemate? Progress? It's anyone's guess.

I tend to think we're either moving forward or backward, and I don't think we're moving forward.