Response to Nat Hentoff

[hfojvt]

According to Media Matters, Nat Hentoff is a progressive columnist, and I have seen his books advertised in "The Nation" and I thought his book "I am really dragged, but nothing gets me down" was very sympathetic to anti-Vietnam protestors. But I wrote this about him:

"I think Broder is more 'right-leaning' than he is 'centrist', and Hentoff is listed as a progressive, but he also seems to devote alot of columns to bashing Dems. He is featured in my local paper, and I stopped reading him, writing him off as another rightwinger."

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/hfojvt/68

Then this column was in yesterday's local paper (and I also might note that being carried on JewishWorldReview does not exactly establish him as a progressive.)

http://jewishworldreview.com/cols/hentoff042408.php3

"I was once strongly inclined to vote for Barack Obama for president (assuming he won his party's nomination) based on his record as a community organizer in Chicago and in the Illinois state legislature. He's had nitty-gritty street experiences absent in the resumes of most aspirants for the Oval Office: He worked in poor neighborhoods to get job training for the unemployed and found ways to reach school dropouts. And in the legislature, he got a bill passed to mandate electronic police recording of interrogations in homicide cases. But then I learned Obama's voting record on abortion."

(snip)

"I oppose extremists on all sides of issues, having, for instance, argued for hours with and against some so-called pro-lifers who considered part of their mission to commit violence, even homicide, where abortions were performed. "

Hentoff does claim to be liberal, with the exception of being pro-life.

http://swiss.csail.mit.edu/~rauch/nvp/hentoff.html

"When I say "like me," I suppose in some respects I'm regarded as a "liberal," although I often stray from that category, and certainly a civil libertarian - though the ACLU and I are in profound disagreement on the matters of abortion, handicapped infants and euthanasia, because I think they have forsaken basic civil liberties in dealing with these issues. I'm considered a liberal except for that unaccountable heresy of recent years that has to do with pro-life matters."

Those with long memories might know that I also wobble on the issue of pro-choice, but for me the critical difference is that apparently Hentoff allows the issue of abortion to trump all other issues. In that way Hentoff seems more like an extremist than Obama. Within pages and pages on issues and people, this is all I find from Obama's website about abortion.

http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/womenissues

"Barack Obama understands that abortion is a divisive issue, and respects those who disagree with him. However, he has been a consistent champion of reproductive choice and will make preserving women’s rights under Roe v. Wade a priority as President. He opposes any constitutional amendment to overturn the Supreme Court's decision in that case. "

He promises to make it a priority, but it is clearly one priority among dozens and not his top concern. Hillary seems to make it much more of a priority than Obama does, not that I want to promote her candidacy.

http://www.hillaryclinton.com/news/release/view/?id=5404

"In the Senate, she has been an outspoken critic of the Bush Administration’s relentless and insidious attempts to undermine Roe and has been on the forefront of the major victories on behalf of the pro-choice community in recent years. In the Senate, Hillary waged a three-year effort, along with Senator Patty Murray, to get the FDA to accept the overwhelming recommendation of the medical community and approve emergency contraception for over-the-counter sales."

By calling Obama an extremist, Hentoff is basically saying he will not support any Democrat because of this one issue. Here's John McCain on this issue.

http://www.johnmccain.com/Informing/Issues/95b18512-d5b6-456e-90a2-12028d71df58.htm

John McCain believes Roe v. Wade is a flawed decision that must be overturned, and as president he will nominate judges who understand that courts should not be in the business of legislating from the bench. Constitutional balance would be restored by the reversal of Roe v. Wade, returning the abortion question to the individual states. The difficult issue of abortion should not be decided by judicial fiat.
However, the reversal of Roe v. Wade represents only one step in the long path toward ending abortion. Once the question is returned to the states, the fight for life will be one of courage and compassion - the courage of a pregnant mother to bring her child into the world and the compassion of civil society to meet her needs and those of her newborn baby. The pro-life movement has done tremendous work in building and reinforcing the infrastructure of civil society by strengthening faith-based, community, and neighborhood organizations that provide critical services to pregnant mothers in need. This work must continue and government must find new ways to empower and strengthen these armies of compassion. These important groups can help build the consensus necessary to end abortion at the state level. As John McCain has publicly noted, "At its core, abortion is a human tragedy. To effect meaningful change, we must engage the debate at a human level."

Not content to just overturn Roe, McCain promises to work to outlaw abortion in all fifty states, and using the power of the Federal government against those who want to see it remain legal by empowering their opposition. That sounds far more extremist than Obama who only promises to maintain the status quo and says "Barack Obama understands that abortion is a divisive issue, and respects those who disagree with him." McCain says nothing about respecting the opposition, only talks to his allies about how to defeat them and promises to help. It is only Hentoff's extremism about abortion that makes him see Obama as an extremist and to ignore the extremism of McCain on this issue, not to mention other issues that supposedly matter to Hentoff, like civil liberties, progressive taxes, peace, higher minimum wage, abolishing the death penalty, and compassionate social programs. Issues that matter to the 300 million people who are already here. Schools, health care, food, heat, and other needs of some ten million poor children who have already been born matter more to me than the 1.5 million potential children whose own parents want to stop from being born. That probably makes me an extremist to Hentoff, but extremism in defense of the already-born is no vice.

[hfojvt]

1. no comment about this issue? Or about Hentoff?

Maybe I should have made it shorter. Like

Hentoff calls Obama an extremist on the issue of abortion because of some poor choice of words and because he did not vote to outlaw some rare types of abortions, while apparently McCain who wants to outlaw all abortions is some kind of moderate.