Can Obama Reach Across The Isle?

Obama's stagecraft is without equal. The DNC's spectacular was certainly memorable - in the long run more memorable than what was said, and perhaps that was intentional. Obama's words were chosen to create an impression of bipartisanship and compromise.

We may not agree on abortion, but surely we can agree on reducing the number of unwanted pregnancies in this country. The reality of gun ownership may be different for hunters in rural Ohio than for those plagued by gang-violence in Cleveland, but don't tell me we can't uphold the Second Amendment while keeping AK-47s out of the hands of criminals. I know there are differences on same-sex marriage, but surely we can agree that our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters deserve to visit the person they love in the hospital and to live lives free of discrimination. Passions fly on immigration, but I don't know anyone who benefits when a mother is separated from her infant child or an employer undercuts American wages by hiring illegal workers.

Yet I can't believe that compromise would be on the agenda should Democrats win control of the White House as well as Congress. There is no doubt they would nominate Supreme Court judges who will legislate from the bench.  Liberals will gain power in all three branches. Expanding government programs will expand control of the centralized buearucracy over more and more aspects of our lives. 

Consider abortion for example. Does Obama truly believe in the reasonable compromises he speaks of? There is no evidence of it. An editorial in the Chicago Tribune spells out how Obama refused to compromise in the Illinois legislature, on a law that even NARAL had no issue with. Some may see this as a sign of his commitment...

But by arguing against the born-alive legislation because it might in some distant and ambiguous way obstruct abortion, Obama implies that the right to an abortion trumps an infant's right to life, even after he is born.

Such logic is breathtaking. It says that even after birth, a mother's right to rid herself of the baby supersedes any right that a child, now independent of the mother's body and domain, has a right to live. Where America stands on this issue truly is a measure of its sense of justice and compassion. On this score, Obama fails.

We can expect no compromise or bipartisanship - only extreme ideology. Bush is often taken to task for making decisions based on ideology rather than facts. Here Obama sacrifices common decency on the altar of ideology. Replacing a neoconservative ideologue with a liberal one is not an improvement.

Meet the new boss

Same as the old boss

- Won't Get Fooled Again