Ross Douthat has a thoughtful post concerning Andrew
Bacevich's endorsement of Barack Obama,
challenging Bacevich to make a "more detailed case for why issues
of war and peace ought to outweigh the abortion issue for pro-life
voters in '08." Douthat points out for all the Republicans' lip
service on the abortion issue, twelve years of Republican
presidents actually did put the Supreme Court just one vote shy of
overturning Roe v. Wade in 1992 (had Robert Bork been
confirmed or Anthony Kennedy stuck to his guns, the decision may
have fallen). After seven-odd years of another Republican
president, we may be just one vote away from overturning
Roe once again. Electing Obama, Douthat points out, "is to
give up on overturning Roe for at least a decade, probably
for two, and possibly for all time."
This is an argument that must be seriously grappled with by
pro-lifers, not simply dismissed as the concerns of a "naif."
Writing in Taki's Magazine earlier this week, Dan McCarthy
did make a detailed case as to why the war
should trump abortion. Ideally, McCarthy argues, the right should
take a true pro-life position by being against both the war and
abortion (or, if you prefer, a true anti-choice position: against
both abortion choice and wars of choice).
Having said that, while pro-lifers and other social
conservatives are often treated like Republican stepchildren, even they
have more to show for their involvement in the GOP than antiwar
voters so far have for their votes for Democrats. Rulings by
Republican-appointed federal judges, including the disappointing
Casey decision reaffirming Roe, increased the
number of state-level abortion restrictions passed by mostly
Republican legislators. This in turn has contributed to falling abortion rates. The
Democrats can't point to much they've done to mitigate the war.
Half the Democrats in the Senate voted to invade Iraq; since the
Democrats have controlled Congress we've gotten the surge, not any
drawdown of troops. That Democrat who will end the war is as
elusive as that fifth Republican-appointed Supreme Court justice
who will overturn Roe.
Antiwar conservatives are a very small group, mostly
intellectuals rather than a voting bloc. Conservatives as a whole
are more likely to fall into Joseph Bottum's pro-life, pro-war
New Fusionism framework. But there
are plenty of Catholic voters, a real swing voting bloc, who oppose
both the Iraq war and abortion. How many of them will side with
Bacevich and Doug Kmiec rather than the Ross
Douthats who vote on the abortion issue?
Personally, I'm skeptical that Obama is going to improve foreign
policy or that McCain is going to do very much about Roe
(whether that means appointing an anti-Roe Supreme Court
majority or doing something really serious, like jurisdiction
stripping). So I'll probably end up voting for one of these bozos. More from Daniel Larison
here.
topics:
Barack Obama, Abortion, Supreme Court, Iraq
