For Obama (and the rest of you people)

The outrageous thing about Obama is not that he claims to do God's work — I heard George W. Bush say much the same at his 2005 inauguration, and I wasn't surprised then, either —
but that he sees his extreme position on abortion as having no conflict with that work.

First, if you haven't heard by now, Senator Obama voted against the Born Alive Infants Protection Act, something not even Senator Clinton opposed. The man was literally voting to dump infants who survived partial-birth abortions into medical dumpsters.

I've been disheartened by the way my friends are responding to his clarion calls for change (like trading in our duty to protect the least of these for the far more sexy global warming crisis?), but there are signs that we're not the only twentysomethings who have problems with Obama and abortion.

This open letter from a Rhodes scholar is something I wish I'd written and something I wish everyone would read. Beautiful, succinct, logical and compelling...

Of course, some do deny that every human being has a right to life. They say that size or degree of development or dependence can make a difference. But the same was once said of color. Some say that abortion is a “necessary evil.” But the same was once said of slavery. Some say that prohibiting abortion would only harm women by driving it underground. But to assume so is truly to play the politics of fear. A compassionate society would never accept these false alternatives. A compassionate society would protect both mother and child, coming to the aid of women in need rather than calling violence against their children the answer to their problems.

Can we become a society that does not sacrifice some people to help others? Or is that hope too audacious? You have said that abortion is necessary to protect women’s equality. But surely we can do better. Surely we can build an America where the equality of some is not purchased with the blood of others. Or would that mean too much change from politics as usual?

It reminds me of something I read elsewhere, when an evangelical shared with other evangelicals why he could not support Obama in good conscience. They told him (with voices dripping in contempt, I imagine) he was "a single-issue voter." His response? "If I'd been standing outside of Auschwitz, I would have been a single-issue voter then, too."

Please, check out the whole thing here. And print a copy for your friends and family.