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Another sign that Democrats are rediscovering their backbone

jamelle

At the Politico, Ben Smith reports that in several states – Virginia, Wisconsin, Colorado, and Iowa – Obama is running radio ads criticizing McCain  for his stance on abortion rights.  Noam Scheiber, after commenting on how unusual this is, notes that it’s probably a good move on Obama’s part, since a majority of Americans support abortion rights in one form or another, and pro-choice Republican women are likely to be turned off by McCain/Palin’s strongly pro-life views.  Like Scheiber, I’m a little surprised to see Obama running explicitly on his abortion stance – normally Democrats are either compromising or capitulating – but I’m glad to see it happening.  The steady erosion of reproductive rights over the past twenty or so years has happened in part because Democrats have been unwilling to make the positive case for reproductive rights.  Granted, this ad campaign is somewhat limited, but it is still very heartening to see a Democrat run towards, and not way from, the party’s stance on abortion.

16 thoughts on Another sign that Democrats are rediscovering their backbone

  1. Pingback: Another sign that Democrats are rediscovering their backbone « The United States of Jamerica

  3. So did he reclarify his previous statements on mental health exceptions? And by reclarify, I mean retract everything he’s said so far.

  4. Obama’s always been pretty liberal on choice — not perfect, but he’s probably the most pro-choice Democrat to win the nomination. Unfortunately, he’s spent his time trying to mitigate this, trying to reach across the aisle and get support from anti-choicers, too. This has led him to show a softness on choice in public, which has, needless to say, annoyed me.

    So this is good. Not perfect, but we aren’t going to get perfect. Nevertheless, I can’t remember Kerry, Gore, Clinton, Dukakis, Mondale, or Carter running a pro-choice ad.

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  7. I wish you would edit your post, they are not “pro-life”, they care very little for the lives of the would-be mothers, and they care very little for the already born children or they would put money into health care, education, day care, and other social programs that give women more options to make the choice to have a baby and give their children a better life. They are either anti-abortion or pro-feti, but they are not pro-life.

  8. This is great. With the Sarah Palin rollout the Republicans are making a very real play to sell their ticket as “pro-life”, make their anti-abortion credentials a selling point and make reconnecting with the anti-abortion base a very serious part of their strategy. At the same time McCain has finally caved on whether or not the Republican platform will include a universal ban on abortion (McCain had been attempting to change the platform to include rape/incest/mother’s health exceptions). The Republicans appear to be thinking that if they can’t win on the issues or the candidates, they’re going to have to re-start the culture wars quick. So it seems like this– with a serious uptick in both extremism and focus on abortion by the Republicans– is the perfect time for Obama to hit the Republicans on this. Surprising as it is to see a Democrat not hiding on abortion, the fact is hiding from this won’t work. If Obama can’t turn this into a negative, they’re going to turn it into a positive.

  9. I love this. If Rove wants to have the Culture Wars, let him bring it.

    I seem to remember hearing that a lot of evangelicals were turned off by the Bush administration, either because they perceived him as not doing enough to fulfill his promises, or because they embraced a more comprehensive worldview (i.e. moving beyond abortion to include poverty, the environment, etc). There was also David Kuo’s book, although I don’t know how much damage it did.

  10. another reason to cross fingers & toes he wins — to finally, finally, finally prove the DLC is full of it, that being vocally pro-choice is electoral poison.

  11. It’s not just that being pro-choice is a majority position, it’s that half of McCain’s female supporters back it as well!

    Planned Parenthood Poll

    People in general are confused about McCain’s stances on reproductive rights, which makes sense seeing as how the McCain campaign can’t talk straight about their position.

    Obama is betting if he can educate some people about McCain’s TRUE position that he can swing them in his direction.

  12. This is thrilling news. It’s great to hear abortion rights as a selling point for the Democratic Party rather than a hold-your-nose-and-downplay-it issue.

    Obama may not be perfect, but this is pretty seriously awesome.

  14. Anything from him yet on the HHS rules on contraception? Conscience clauses?

    If he’s going to get tough on reproductive rights, let’s see him get tough on reproductive rights. All I’m seeing here is him bludgeoning female voters with the same Roe v Wade club the dems have been using to keep us in line for 30 years.
    Besides, if the bar for being pro-choice is set at not being the guy who will seek to overturn Roe v Wade, we’ve got problems.

  15. Pingback: More Please - John Mccain | John McCain- Sharpy News

  16. What does the guy need to do to be “perfect” on reproductive rights?
    An endorsement, and sweeping statement of praise by NARAL, helps!

    “Sen. Obama has been a leader on this issue in the United States Senate. Since joining the Senate in 2005, he has worked to unite Americans on both side of this debate behind commonsense, common-ground ways to prevent unintended pregnancy. Sen. Obama supports legislation to provide our teens with comprehensive sex education, prevent pharmacies from denying women access to their legal birth-control prescriptions, and increase access to family-planning services.”
    Washington, DC – Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, May 14, 2008

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