Doug Kmiec calls on Barack Obama to support a legislative package sponsored by pro-life Democrats — the 95-10 initiative — that aims to reduce abortions by 95 percent in ten years. He argues that doing so would help Obama address pro-life concerns while still disagreeing about the ultimate legal status of abortion. More importantly, it would help Obama resolve the conflict between campaigning for president as “a figure who transcends the old, tired politics of division” and voting in the Senate as a reliable liberal.
That’s all fine as far as it goes. But Kmiec has his own paradox: He endorses first, on the basis of transcending the old politics, and then tries to come up with policy positions that will justify the endorsement later.
