Letters to the Editor
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NOW's running off the rails
Whoa, Obama voted present .032 percent of the time in the Illinois Senate!
Given the bias the NOW organization has shown in this race (note NY NOW's rant from Marcia Pappas and the national organization's quiet acceptance of it), I'd have to go with IL Planned Parenthood on this one. Reproductive rights are at the top of Planned Parenthood's agenda. I trust their interpretation of these events. Besides, if Obama helped protect vulnerable Dem state senators--in a strategy that did not negatively affect the laws on the books, as opposed to NOW's sense of grandstanding--what's wrong with that?
This reminds me of the Democratic debate exchange re: the proposed 30% cap on credit card interest rates. Clinton and Edwards derided Obama for not voting in favor of the cap, piling on when Obama said he thought the cap was too high. In fact, Obama's reasoning made perfect sense. If you vote yes on a cap so high it is essentially meaningless, all it does is give politicians the ability to say, "Hey, we capped interest rates!" while actually doing nothing to help anyone and taking the issue off the table at the same time, making an effective cap more unlikely.
The seemingly obvious vote is not always the right one.
On the other hand, voting to authorize military force on the theory that trigger-happy Bush wouldn't actually use any--now that's a vote to regret.