Abortion and Senator Obama

This rainy evening we are getting Hurricane Gustav's left-overs, and the Republican Party is going about the business of nominating John McCain and Sarah Palin.
Corn is firing, drying down, and fields look like storehouses of gold. We drove past a field of sorghum this week-end, and it looked as if it were on fire.
The temperatures cool off even as political rhetoric heats up.
And so the season changes.

********

Last week I listened with great interest as Senator Obama gave his acceptance speech. I think he is an honorable man with some good ideas. I especially like his emphasis on a father's responsibility to his family.
I'm convinced he cares about people, and I believe he would give the presidency his best effort.
But I won't be voting for him.
In his speech -- so quickly overshadowed by Senator McCain's announcement of his running mate, Sarah Palin -- Senator Obama talked about his energy policy, but he did not tell us how he intends to pay for it. Higher taxes? Restrictions on our everyday use of non-approved forms of energy? What changes will his policies make to our everyday lives and our budgets? He gave very few details about that part of his energy policy. That concerns me.
It seems too much like one more political pocket-picking.
I thought it admirable that he reached for common ground on thorny issues, but I don't believe working harder to “prevent unwanted pregnancies” even begins to address our differences about abortion -- his compromise falls short, and his voting record on abortion makes it impossible for me to vote for him.
Dennis Byrne writes about one aspect of Senator Obama's voting record on abortion in a column in the August 26, 2008 issue of The Chicago Tribune, reprinted here on Rick Hogaboam's blog Endued, a Blog About Life and God. In that column, Byrne discusses the Senator's resistance in the Illinois Legislature to recognizing any legal rights for a born-alive “product of abortion.”
I agree with Byrne's assertion that “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.”
I don't see how Senator Obama's position on abortion allows him to claim moral leadership.
I believe his position on the basic issue of life is basically immoral.

Election Notes . . .

Another evening, another newscast, and it seems as if it's all politics, all the time.

I wonder sometimes if that explains some of the silly, nasty exchanges between the three major candidates now.

Tonight we were treated to stories about how Mr. Obama's staffer insulted Mrs. Clinton; how Mrs. Clinton's staff person reminded us of Whitewater and Ken Starr by comparing Barack Obama to Starr; and a story about an exchange between John McCain, a pesky questioner and later on, a much peskier reporter.

None of these stories clarified any candidate's position on health care, the wars in Iraq or Afghanistan, the price of oil or the unpleasant economy, or really, about anything other than how unpleasant the opposition/reporters/an opponent's history really is.

Even Jim Lehrer was unable to turn the conversation from these unhappy subjects on PBS. In the Shields and Brooks segment – one I usually enjoy – the two reporter/commentators seemed stuck on the political aspects of these exchanges.

Meanwhile I'm still hungry for details about how these candidates propose to lead our nation and address our problems, and curious about whether or not they can maintain a measure of civility and humanity while campaigning for office. It's a tall order. I'll be interested to see if any one of them can fill it.