Divide and Conquer?

Yes. Precisely.

As I mentioned, the strategy of states seeking to dominate the Church is–as Henry VIII, Elizabeth I, the Nazi, and the Chinese Commies have all demonstrated–to foster a Patriotic Church, docile to the will of the Ruling Class, and then encourage devotion to that as “real Christianity” in contrast to the actual Catholic Church in union with the Pope and the bishops. We don’t live in a confessional country, so the state can’t actually make Obama the Head of the Church. But Obama can certainly help foster the perception of lickspittle bureaucrats, dissenting theologians, and sundry cringing suckups on the Catholic left as an alternative magisterium. That appears to be precisely the tactic he is taking with, of course, the willing and eager help of the MSM, who naturally portray the whole thing as Plucky Rebel Alliance of forward-thinking Catholics vs. Evil Empire of Sexually Retarded Bishops. Nobody even bothers to ask why the Church might have qualms about contraception or abortifacients. The meme machine is revved, ginning up the public to cheer for the crushing of Catholic conscience by a tyrant who has usurped the power to murder and indefinitely detain American citizens as a triumph of the human spirit. Sin does indeed make people stupid.