If the debate last night had a weirdly negative focus on Obama’s 100 or so “present” votes in the Illinois Senate (100 out of about 4000, which I would consider a very high voting rate), it’s because the Clinton campaign has hatched a new code word for its one-issue supporters. “Present” is meant to imply that Obama is hesitant in his support of abortion rights, since several of the times he cast the “present” vote was over the abortion issue. The truth, of course, is not so simple: in fact Obama cast those votes in concert with pro-choice groups as a way to protect legislators in more vulnerable seats.
Now I happen to believe that there is a lot of difficult and subtle questions around abortion both as policy and as politics, so I’m already disappointed with casting the issue of abortion into some kind of all-or-nothing litmus test (which puts the Democratic old guard in the same bind as the Republican one). However, this particular pander to a focused and motivated base, using very willful distortions of an opponent’s record, smacks of Karl Rove style politics. We all know that it works, but it’s also exactly the kind of tactics that cheapens and coarsens our national dialogue over what should be a serious and important topic. The really sad reality is that this kind of negativity also turns off voters who are already disaffected, which creates a vicious cycles in which only the extreme margins of either party end up playing what amounts to an intramural game.
I think the truth is that most of us are moderates because we’re smart and sophisticated enough to see both sides of most issues. And as Gail Collins pointed out a few weeks ago, Obama (and, let’s admit, McCain) has done something quite extraordinary:
Barack Obama turns out to have a positive genius for making moderation sound exciting and is perhaps the only politician in American history who can get a crowd all worked up with a call to politeness. “We can disagree without being disagreeable,” he said in his New Hampshire farewell, drawing a roar of approval.
Let me admit that if given the choice, my Facebook profile would identify me as an “extreme moderate.” Extreme moderation isn’t about some kind of bland, middle-of-the-road, flip-flopping. It’s about admitting that issues are complex and that casting the world in black-and-white, as George W. Bush is particularly fond of doing, is neither mature nor wise. We all have very good reasons for seeing the world as we do, and each of us is worth listening to.
I’m more than happen to listen to supporters of Edwards, McCain, heck, maybe even Romney. I just happen to believe that thousands of Americans and I are right about Obama!
(btw, the Clinton camp has been robo-calling female Democrats around the state about this particularly creative interpretation of Obama’s record. Don’t fall for the spin!)
