THE NEW REPUBLIC: OBAMA LOSING STRENGTH AS A UNITER?
Obama was known throughout his campaign as one who could bridge the divide between the many factions of culture in the United States, especially between liberals and the religious right. However with his nomination of Gov. Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas to be secretary of health and human services and his termination of of rules adopted at the end of the Bush administration allowing health care workers to decline to participate in actions that violate their moral or religious beliefs, tensions are remounting between pro-choice and pro-life contingents.
Given the opposition in Congress to any federal funding for abortion, this issue could go away. Obama almost certainly hopes that it does. His success as a cultural peacemaker depends on his ability to move the country’s moral discussion toward social justice and economics.
Question to the Blogosphere: Can Obama continue to serve as a “cultural peacemaker” in the United States? Is abortion really that divisive of an issue or are there extremists within both camps that spoil any hope for finding common ground? What do you think of Obama’s choice of Sebelius as HHS secretary? Do you think that a President should be restrained from nominating people to his cabinet who may hold controversial opinion, or is this the catalyst for change?
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“Can Obama continue to serve as a “cultural peacemaker” in the United States?”
When has Obama ever served in such a capacity. On the issues of abortion, religious freedom, economics, and/or “social justice,” Obama has always been a divisive figure and a force for polarization.
You forgot to mention his overturning the Mexico City Policy.
He was ‘marketed’ as being able to “bridge the divide between the many factions of culture in the United States, especially between liberals and the religious right” in an attempt to get the votes of the ‘consistent ethic of life’ cohort who were angry about about the Iraq war. These people hoped that he would live up to the hype, but they didn’t fully trust him (considering his support of FOCA and opposition of the IL BAIPA).
I don’t think that it is a matter of extremists. If you make exceptions for the ‘hard cases’ (rape, incest, birth defects, mother’s life) 47% of the population is pro-life.