Sorry! I’ve been busy of late, but finally found made time to crank this one out.
I think the Saddleback forum (video here) proved to the average American what us political hacks have known for a while: Obama without a teleprompter is no Messiah at all. Plus, McCain was razor sharp, and Obama’s team has to be sweating about the three debates that will take place in the two month span between the Republican convention and election day. If the candidates conduct themselves then as they did in Rick Warren’s forum the other night, those debates have a serious chance to dramatically alter the outcome on November 4th.
Obama’s gaffe–the “above my pay grade” answer in response to Warren’s question on when an unborn child is bequeathed with human rights–was derided by those members of the media not circulating anti-McCain conspiracy theories. In other words, the Drive By media covered Barry’s behind yet again. No surprise there.
But I got to thinking about Obama’s answer in a somewhat … ahem … different light. Here’s the exchange:
WARREN: Now, let’s deal with abortion. 40 million abortions since Roe v. Wade. you know, as a pastor I have to deal with this all of the time. All of the pain and all of the conflicts. I know this is a very complex issue. 40 million abortions. At what point does a baby get human rights in your view?
OBAMA: Well, I think that whether you are looking at it from a theological perspective or a scientific perspective, answering that question with specificity, you know, is above my pay grade. But let me just speak more generally about the issue of abortion because this is something obviously the country wrestles with. One thing that I’m absolutely convinced of is there is a moral and ethical content to this issue. So I think that anybody who tries to deny the moral difficulties and gravity of the abortion issue I think is not paying attention. So that would be point number one.
There have been other human groups in American history that have been denied human rights and the dignity–legal and moral–that comes with being recognized as a person. One of these groups was blacks. All the way from slavery to Jim Crow laws, the issue of personhood was at the center of racial conflict. Were blacks equal persons with whites or not?
Obama cites two spheres of perspective–theological and scientific–to judge this issue with and comes up empty (quite scary for someone who taught constitutional law). However, put quite simply, when the Founders wrote in the Declaration of Independence that all men were created equal, they were essential making a theological statement. They were appealing to the commonly held belief that God had created all people, and then asserting that none had been created inherently more dignified or deserving of God-given, inalienable rights than another. (For an explanation of why this was not at odds with the three-fifths clause, see D’Souza.) This essentially theological belief served as the basis of our break from England and our subsequent Constitution affirming a society based in the principles of liberty, equality, and republicanism.
And it was this theological statement, embedded in our founding documents, that was cited again and again by abolitionists in their quest to rid our country of the “peculiar institution.” It was quoted by Martin Luther King Jr. as blacks battled segregation and police dogs. And it was even quoted, long after the civil rights era had passed and simply for political purposes, by … Barack Obama in his “just words” speech.
So Obama, don’t tell me words don’t matter or that deciphering them is “above your pay grade.” You know full well what they mean, and as President, knowing, understanding, and upholding our founding documents and principles wouldn’t just be within your pay grade, it would be your JOB. Yes, you know full well what those words mean, it just wouldn’t be convenient to admit that the truth is at odds with your pro-abortion stance while in a church forum on national television. And let’s not even mention your pro-infanticide record.
Exit questions: If Obama doesn’t believe that government officials are in a position to say when a baby is recognized as a person and should be afforded human rights, how can he have ANY stance on the abortion issue, much less be pro-abortion?
And if religion and science can have no say inside political affairs when addressing the issue of personhood (Obama says those perspectives are above the pay grade of the highest civil servant in the country), whether for a baby or a black human being, how could he justify making the case for abolishing slavery and giving blacks full and equal standing in society? What anti-racism arguments would Obama have? What basis would he have for claiming that politicians and judges ignoring scientific and theological knowledge and thereby approving of slavery, segregation, and racist policies were … wrong?
Fact is, the same science and morality that tells us racism is detestable, that all humans are created equal, and that all have rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness … well, that’s the same science and morality that tells us life begins at conception at that this is wrong.
