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MONDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2009
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 OPINION 
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Pro-Life Votes Are Obama's First Target in Culture War

Gay rights will come later, when it's easier: Douthat

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(Newser) – Democrats pushed Barack Obama into the White House hoping he could end the culture wars—and when they say “end,” they mean “win,” writes Ross Douthat in the New York Times. Obama’s strategy: “Engage on abortion, and punt on gay rights.” Though he made promises on gay rights, expect him to go on ignoring them, and seeking to attract pro-life voters.

Obama has calculated that Democrats will get an easier win on gay rights by holding out, so it’s not worth pressing. On the other hand, even as young voters veer away from absolute support for abortion rights, pro-lifers are getting weary. Obama could forge a compromise that, though unable to put the issue to bed, “might be close enough for government work.”

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama waves with Pastor Rick Warren during the Saddleback Forum in Lake Forrest, Calif., Aug. 16, 2008.
Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama waves with Pastor Rick Warren during the Saddleback Forum in Lake Forrest, Calif., Aug. 16, 2008.   (AP Photo)
Mary Del Duca of Port St. Lucie, Fla., holds a pro-life sign outside a campaign rally of former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, in Port St. Lucie, Fla., Jan. 27, 2008.
Mary Del Duca of Port St. Lucie, Fla., holds a pro-life sign outside a campaign rally of former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, in Port St. Lucie, Fla., Jan. 27, 2008.   (AP Photo)
Shelly Bailes, left, gets a hug from Ellen Pontac, while attending a rally against Proposition 8, the measure that bans same-sex marriage, in Sacramento, Calif., March 30, 2009.
Shelly Bailes, left, gets a hug from Ellen Pontac, while attending a rally against Proposition 8, the measure that bans same-sex marriage, in Sacramento, Calif., March 30, 2009.   (AP Photo)
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But if Obama’s abortion-reduction proposals owe more to Democrats For Life than to Planned Parenthood, there are abortion opponents who will seize even that thin straw as a sign of progress. - Ross Douthat

But if the ranks of pro-lifers are growing, so is pro-life weariness—over the long wait to overturn Roe v. Wade, and over the prospect of being lashed to the mast of a sinking Republican Party. - Ross Douthat

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3 comments
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justme
May 12, 09 8:16 PM CDT
Interesting. Hope he goes back to the Clinton idea of making abortion safe, legal and rare. That might be a compromise that most Americans could back because it would tee off both ends of the argument. Reply
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ClearSight
May 12, 09 8:57 PM CDT
I'm all for abortion, as long as its a liberal and retroactive. Reply
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JonmarkP
May 31, 09 4:33 PM CDT
This is not about saving babies. AIDS, Depleted Uranium Munitions, famine and poverty kill millions of little brown fetuses, babies and children every year. The "pro-life" groups don 't care a whit, and make no effort for change. This issue is about dominance and control, about the ability of some "morally superior" adults to control what other adults can and cannot do. Interviews show that about 1/3 of the women attending abortion protests have themselves had abortions, but can justify this because their circumstances were "exceptional." The hypocrisy of the "pro-life" groups extreme, but you cannot appeal to rational thought or compromise with people whose real motivation is dominance and control. With them, it's all or nothing. Reply
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