Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Honestly, I don’t think they’ve been paying attention.
I speak of the folks who still appear to take President Barack Obama for a soft touch. Babe in woods. Doe in headlights. One step from the doorstep of “community organizer.”
They haven’t been paying attention. Maybe because they don’t want to see what’s evident. The guy is good. Reagan as The Communicator? Obama as Communicator Salvation, voice of a more progressive nation.
He goes to Notre Dame. A cable news talker says, “A tough day ahead for President Obama.” Oh, really? You mean because anti-abortion protesters will show? Heavens.
Well, in the phrasing of a previous White House passer-through, bring ’em on. Those who think a few graphic placards and slogans can win the day when this guy has the microphone are, once again borrowing a staple of bygone days, misunderestimating this guy.
Consider the anti-choice commentators, who, seeing only what they believed, gave Obama failing marks.
A “sign the pro-lifers are slowly winning,” wrote Ramesh Ponnuru of Obama’s Notre Dame speech. “He didn’t try to make the case for his view on abortion and other issues. He just pled for civility and the search for common ground.”
That’s a concession? Obama spoke for a nation with a plea to “stop reducing those with differing views to caricature.”
A caricature unto itself is “pro-life.” Often it needs explaining when said “pro-lifer” is pro-war, pro-death penalty and anti-human rights as pertains to homosexuals.
Another caricature, in the same bag of propaganda tricks, is “pro-abortion,” which we are told our president is.
Actually, he addresses the imperative to reduce the numbers of abortion through birth control and adoption.
Somehow, not wanting to foreclose the option through law makes one “radically pro-abortion.” Not where I live.
This is like saying someone is “pro-kiddie porn” by supporting free speech.
In three words, former President Bill Clinton came closest to expressing America’s communal sense about abortion: “safe, legal and rare.” So has Obama, and in a voice that makes people appreciate that leaders can represent a diverse nation and do justice to diverging impulses.
Many who claim to be “pro-life” by and large don’t really want to explain to what extent they’d interfere in a woman’s reproductive rights or when they’d back off.
In cases of rape? How do you define rape? Statutorily?
Incest? That’s some claim to prove and to place on the shoulders of a scared victim.
Medical necessity? What tribunal would judge a doctor’s judgment call?
So even when a recent poll shows that 51 percent of Americans call themselves “pro-life,” most have no idea what the term could or would play out in the real world in terms of policy. Most of those 51 percent of Americans probably say they believe in a less intrusive government. But no government policy could be more intrusive than to order a pregnant woman to gestate, no matter the circumstances.
Oh, no. Obama not only did well at Notre Dame, he rose above the moment. He embodied the respectful and knowing face of people who are pro-family, pro-morality, pro-children and pro-choice.
If you saw something else, well, you weren’t watching.
John Young’s column appears Thursday, Sunday and occasionally Tuesday. E-mail: jyoung@wacotrib.com.
Comments
By daryl
Jun 7, 2009 11:42 AM | Link to this
I just heard they're gonna throw old john under the bus.
I told him in 2000 and again in 2004 these chet edwards voters would do it. Now the trib is for sale with no buyers and john will be scratching his unemployed rear end, hopefully.
Liberals just never learn.
By Sherrod Fielden
May 29, 2009 6:37 PM | Link to this
John Young called President Bush a White House "passer-through". I believe I am correct in this -- that all elected Presidents are temporary passer-throughs, and Obama is no different. He should be, for the sake of our country, VERY temporary.
By Mark
May 28, 2009 5:51 PM | Link to this
Yes BobB and the rest of the liberals. When ever a conservative makes an accurate statement. The left will trash them and then compare them to George Bush . So yes the far left won the White House and we all have to go down that dark path together. But at least he will be a one term blunder.Hello 2012
By BobB
May 28, 2009 12:29 PM | Link to this
Yes, Thomas Sowell is a conservative columnist and, yes, he is black. But his 'brilliant intellect' and 'sound analysis' are revered only among the crowd that worhships at the altar of Rush L.
To see the catastrophes caused by politicians uttering nonsense, you need to look no further than the idiot from Crawford and the band of criminals that surrounded and controlled him.
By sammy
May 27, 2009 2:42 AM | Link to this
"One of the most important talents for success in politics is the ability to make utter nonsense sound not only plausible but inspiring. Barack Obama has that talent. We will be lucky if we escape the catastrophes into which other countries have been led by leaders with that same charismatic talent."
The above quote is from Thomas Sowell, conservative columnist, who also just happens to be a black man. The brilliance of his intellect is long-established and his reputation for sound analysis is well-earned.
By KDF
May 26, 2009 10:46 PM | Link to this
David. There are several Christian organizations that do support abortion and do indeed help women with the process. There are other Christian organizations that do not promote abortion, but are there to offer Christian support. Christians are sinners and that is why Jesus Christ came to die and rise again. And yes, we are not like our Christ. I am sorry that Mr. Gandhi did not understand this.
By David
May 26, 2009 7:19 PM | Link to this
Nobody likes abortion, but a lot of us realize its kind of a necessary evil to keep legal for practical purposes. The abortion fight is over for practical purposes. The supreme court ruled on this subject a long time ago and at this point its set in stone.
If Christian groups really wanted to do something Christ like they'd spend their efforts outreaching to pregnant girls and offering to help them through every step of their pregnancy and motherhood instead of turning it into a political issue.
"I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ." - Mahatma Gandhi
By KDF
May 26, 2009 6:34 PM | Link to this
BDDH. The choice should not be a government choice. As far as I am concerned, better government is less government. No, the choice is a moral one. If women want an abortion, so be it. That choice is between them and God. I do not judge them, but I know that our Father in heaven judges me. Thanks. <
By BDDH
May 26, 2009 3:43 PM | Link to this
I think some of the readers of this op ed have listened to Mr. Lush Rimbaugh too much. They sound just like him. I have NEVER heard President Obama say that he FAVORED abortion. He feels as most of us pro-choice people do.....we don't like abortion, especially to be used as "birth control," but in dire circumstances it may be necessary to save the mother's life.
What the majority of pro-choicer's do not like is having the government involved in personal decisions that should be between an individual and her doctor, the same as any other life-or-death decision (i.e. poor Terri Scheivo). I thought conservatives wanted LESS interference from the government, not more.
By mec
May 26, 2009 10:32 AM | Link to this
Lets not be too mean to the pro-life people. They don't all fit the steriotype put forth in the article or the Christian-baiting popular media. The one common denominator seems to be that they regard the products of conception to be human and sacrosanct. There is room for quite a divide on their stance on various sorts of sexuality,the death penalty. Not all conceive the Deity as a lightening-chunking hairy thunderer.
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