John McCain is the Prettiest Princess in Imaginary Land
After the Saddleback Forum last weekend,quite a few people praised McCain’s decisive answers and quasi-relevant stories. Obama, they said, gave thoughtful, nuanced answers, but the bulk of the commentators seemed to think that Americans are too dumb to value things like intelligence and humility. Americans, the believe, like sound-bites about kicking terrorist ass, even if the question is about poverty. I think we’re smarter than that—and that most of us can sort the good answers from the bad. Here’s an example:
At the Saddleback forum, both Obama and McCain were asked when human life begins. At what point in the reproductive process does the sanctity of life outweigh a potential mother’s freedom? McCain answered decisively, “At conception.” Obama said the question was above his paygrade. He then talked about the competing values and said that he came down on the pro-choice side.
McCain, in his weekly radio address, just attacked Obama on the “above my paygrade” line. Now, I’m probably closer to McCain than Obama on this issue—but the idea that this is somehow a simple, black and white issue is pretty facile. I don’t think that McCain has thought this one through. Conception is a bright line—but not a very good one. A large number of fertilized eggs do not even result in pregnancy. Leaving abortion aside, the idea that we should start legal protections of potential babies before implantation is pretty extreme. Sure, it gets applause from the right—but how many people actually agree with McCain’s statement and all its implications. This would clearly rule out abortion. But it would also rule out fetal stem-cell research. And the morning after pill. And a lot of regular birth-control pills as well. And IUDs. And fertility clinics. Every fertilized egg that didn’t implant would be its own little tragedy.
It may be that in the absence of certainty we should veer on the side of over-protecting life—even if it means rather extreme implications. Others will disagree. But the idea that this is an easy question or that there is a clear and obvious answer seems to ignore what actually happens. This is the sort of question that people should struggle with—regardless of their position on abortion. McCain’s world is a brighter, simpler world. But it’s not the one the rest of us live in.