Posted on 08/19/2008 2:08:53 PM PDT by cpforlife.org
LifeNews.com Note: Deal W. Hudson is the director of the Morley Institute for Church & Culture and InsideCatholic.com, and is the former publisher and editor of CRISIS Magazine, a Catholic monthly. He is the author of six books and his articles and comments have been published in many newspapers and magazines
It's a truism that anyone running for President shouldn't answer a question by saying "that's above my pay grade."
After all, if you want to occupy the White House there is no higher pay grade – you are the boss, and the buck stops with you.
But Barack Obama used precisely that expression when asked by Rick Warren when life begins.
Obama said, "Whether you're looking at it from a theological perspective or a scientific perspective, answering that question with specificity . . . is above my pay grade."
How can a man who has voted three times on the Born Again Infant Protection Act be unable to answer that question with "specificity." Does he mean that he voted against BAIPA without having an answer to that question?
You would think someone casting a vote on BAIPA would know where he stands on when a human life begins. Otherwise, what is he basing his vote upon? What factor is more important?
Obama made the telling mistake of pitting the truth of science against the truth of theology. That remark is almost more disturbing than his unwillingness to reveal his opinion on a matter of great importance to most Americans.
He evidently thinks there are two truths in contradiction to each other. And his implication is clear: Theology teaches life begins at conception, but science sees it differently.
Wait a minute; isn't this supposed to be the faith-friendly Democratic candidate for president? Why would Obama throw theology under the science bus?
It's not a matter of being a scientist or a theologian; the determining factor is whether or not you believe in a "right to choose."
Those, like Obama, who hold that ideology, have come to the conclusion that life does not begin at conception, regardless of what theology and science teach.
Doug Kmiec is right to point out that upholding a woman's right to choose is what has determined Obama's outlook on abortion. This is why the phrase "abortion should be safe, legal, and rare" was taken out of the platform of the Democratic Party.
As Kmiec, an Obama supporter puts it, "To impose either safe, or legal, or rare is, to him, to have the government displace the woman's freedom."
Kmiec also endorses Obama's view that truth is a matter of perspective, i.e., depending on one's point of view. "As [Obama} sees it, Roe is not an endorsement of abortion, so much as an affirmation that abortion is a moral question for which only the potential mother can give answer."
Passing over the issue of whether the father should have any say in the matter, it's strange indeed that a choice about life and death should be awarded, free from interference, to a single person.
Where is the unborn child's advocate? In the world of Barack Obama, as described by Prof. Kmiec, the child has no advocate; the mother's freedom is inviolate.
For Kmiec, all this makes "Barack Obama a different type of candidate." Maybe I am missing something, but I think there's nothing at all different about Obama – for him, a woman's right to choose trumps every other constraint.
Sounds like the standard pro-abortion argument to me.
When Rick Warren asked John McCain the same question he didn't hesitate. He answered that life begins "at the moment of conception." McCain's twenty-five year pro-life voting record has made him pretty clear on that point.
In the 35 years since the Roe v. Wade Decision a Pro Life President has occupied the White House 23 Years.
Well, its above your pay grade if you’re..
1)mentally challenged
2)dead
3)an imbecile
4)an amoeba
5)an obama
What about on national security? That would correctly be a deal breaker.
This Obama non-answer goes to the fundamental issue, not just of our time but throughout human civilization. If you can’t answer that one correctly your test is over. You are dismissed.
Has Constitutional Lawyer Obama forgotten the Declaration—The Right to Life is Unalienable. What about the Preamble to the Constitution, written for “Our Posterity”
He’s dealt with this issue for more than 7 years, as an elected legislator and the best answer is that. Your test is over. You are dismissed.
So then we should believe that Obama has no opinion about when life begins, or any theological feelings, given that he is a self-professed Christian???????
And has he not kept up with the advances in science in recent years? We have found tha premature infants are now being saved and are viable prior to the 6 or 7 month gestation period which some thought was the minimum. And which also goes to show that the fetus is definitely alive at that point. Then you could wonder how one could support late term abortions in that case.
Well, for these so-called “pro choice” politicians, that “choice” trumps every other consideration.
Sadly we have no real alternatives.
I can't believe he used that term. I've been saying he was a slacker, but, gee, thanks, Obama, for making me so right.
Two thoughts, you pencil-neck sleaze: First, if you don't know how to respect life, you're not fit to lead it; and Two, that "punished with a baby" remark was your complete undoing. You did the verbal equivalent of what Martin Sheen did in "The Dead Zone."
The American people will never elect you.
“that’s above my pay grade.” = “The buck stops....not here, but I’m sure it stops somewhere, if it needs to stop, then of course we need to take that dollar back to invest it in the future...”
I beg to differ, not on Obama's outlook or thoughts, but on the fact that science feels life begins sometime after conception. I am NOT a Christian, I have many friends who are not Christians, many are men and women of science, but they do not think aborting(killing)unborn babies is ok.
They all agree, it is murder, pure and simple. There are millions like me and my friends in the USA that embrace morality but reject religion per se.
Some of us, me included, believe in a higher power but not necessarily the way the bible lays it out.
Aborting babies is wrong whether you are a scientist or Christian. Barrack thinks killing babies is ok because he is a communist, a left wing nutcake, not because he embraces science.
One other thing, a true person of science realizes how rare life is in the Universe and embraces it, doesn't call for the death of unborn children, doesn't call for the elimination of people who think differently than they do. That is a real scientist, anything other than that is simply a left wing, socialist, murdering scum bag. Period.
The idea behind the Office of the President as designed by the founders was that NOTHING was beyond the office holders paygrade. That ultimately the person in that position would be called on often to make life and death decision for thousand and then millions of other human beings.
While I imagine that Obama thought his use of the term was just a throwaway line as he tried to think of a better answer to a serious question, I think the reality is that we, the Nation, saw the real Obama. The entire person that seeks to become our President. What we saw is a man that does not even understand the requirements of the job he seeks.
May be viewed by history as the turning point in the election!
And Five of the Seven Justices to Vote For Roe were Appointed by Republicans!
The GOP over the years has to proved itself to be a Pro Life Party but, rather a party that claims to be Pro Life has done little to Save Innocent Children.
Not completely. If he would have been honest he would have said. Only after being born. And if he would put his IL votes into words he would have added... unless the mother wanted the baby dead.
Capt. Obvious voice: I don't think he was expecting that question asked—that way. He can not think on his feet like any competent lawyer, and many non lawyers can. He was completely caught off guard which I suspect is very common for him. And which would be dangerous for the Nation.
Never has the term pseudo-intellectual been more appropriate than when applied to Obama. He's more of a lightweight than my tweety bird.
Bump!
If a person can't figure out when life begins, then the office of the Presidency is over your head. When life begins is a SIMPLE issue. How in the world will one who will head up the most powerful country on this earth deal with the TOUGH COMLEX ISSES?
The answer is baby Obama won't. He'll cave in to more EVIL. Obama, baby, is an APPEASER to EVIL. He stands for NOTHING and falls for everything because his core value/beliefs are ROTTEN.
Apparently, it wasn’t “above his pay grade” when he said he wouldn’t want his daughters “punished with a baby” if they got pregnant. It wasn’t “above his pay grade” to vote to deny legal protection to infants born alive in botched abortions. He is willing to vote to deny rights to unborn children. Was he just confused about his “pay grade” then?
As I watched Obama’s response to the question about the right to an individual’s life, it seemed to me that Obama got haughtier and haughtier until he finally resorted to his flippant, sarcastic answer.
So, are we to guess that if his pay grade were higher, he’d have an opinion or take a position?
I would like to know whether or not he thinks his daughters have constitutional rights to life. If so, then their ages could have been a better answer than the stupid one he provided to Warren. And specifically, at what age did he think his daughters first had protective rights to life?
— Jane
“...premature infants are now being saved and are viable prior to the 6 or 7 month gestation period...”
and each and every one of these million dollar babies (not that you could ever put a dollar value on a human life) are more precious than gold to our Lord Jesus Christ.
Perhaps Obama just plain old lacks the depth of intellectual curiosity or depth of character to have an opinion about the right to life — but you’d think that as a professing Christian, he’d have a spiritual preference to life.
He most certainly would if his daughters’ lives were at stake. You don’t have to walk the halls of Intensive Care to know how precious your children’s lives are. And yes, they most certainly have the right to life and the right to the best medical care available here on earth. So I’m not buying his haughty remark about pay grade.
I think he was just upset with the whole notion that Warren was asking him what appeared to be hard questions. And he knew it was going to be aired on Fox News, a channel he consistently avoids.
Just goes to show you that if, by his wildest imagination, he were elected president, he wouldn’t consider himself the president of all the people. Just the ones who subscribe to the MSM’s context. Conservatives are to be avoided at all costs.
— Jane
— Jane
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