Preferring the option not to have a preferential option

Last week, Faith in Public
Life asked Rick Santorum if he agrees with the Catholic teaching that public
policy should include a "preferential option for the poor." He appeared to be
unfamiliar with the concept:

To be fair, it's an awkward
phrase--I wasn't sure what it meant the first time I heard it, either. Of
course, I was a 20-year-old evangelical student at a college that declines to employ Catholic scholars, not an
uber-Catholic (Amy Sullivan's apt term) presidential
candidate and former fellow at a faith-based policy think tank.