Wednesday, November 05, 2008

Some promises are not worth keeping

Obama: "There will always be people, many of good will, who do not share my view on the issue of 'choice'. On this fundamental issue I will not yield and Planned Parenthood will not yield."

Audience Member: "[T]he recent Bush-Supreme Court's decision really took away critically important decisions from women and put them in the hands of politicians, and as a result of this we're expecting, and have already seen, so much anti-choice legislation at the State level. What would you do at the Federal level, not only to ensure access to abortion, but to make sure that the Judicial nominees that you will inevitably be able to pick are true to the core tenets of Roe v. Wade?"

Obama: "Well, the first thing I'd do as president is sign the Freedom of Choice Act."
Now, from a grammatical and rhetorical point of view, Obama has not promised (in this speech) to sign the FOCA as his first presidential act. He does appear, though, to promise that signing the FOCA will be his first presidential act toward a) ensuring access to abortion, and b) selecting pro-choice nominees for the Supreme Court.

Mr. President(-elect), don't keep this promise.

1 comment:

Gretchen said...

I heard a pro-life talk on the internet last night--not sure if it was Fr. Frank Pavone or another pro-life political consultant--but listeners were told that there was not much chance of FOCA being passed in Congress. At least for the time being.