WALTER RUSSELL MEAD: White House Flubs Contraception Compromise. “First the Obama administration managed to alienate both its liberal supporters and its religious critics by pushing and then pulling back its HHS contraception mandate. Now the White House has succeeded in hitting the political sour spot yet again by producing a compromise designed to placate the Catholic bishops…without consulting the Catholic bishops.” My impression, too, is that it’s not just the bishops who are unhappy.