Clinton, Obama campaigns tangle over abortion

Hillary just wants her WHITE house back, and that means, being a Clinton, she will distort even the record of someone with whom she might have otherwise allied herself. Her tears were in frustration that we the people don't get how "personal" this is for her. People were fooled into thinking she has somehow a heart or fairly deserves our sympathy - despite the machinations that brought her to the senatorship in New York, despite the "inevitability" launched from her announcement to run, despite her husband's consistently bizarre rants whenever he or his record is even mildly challenged. Obama's record is one that Hillary could certainly have understood, given her own "strategic" votes - all politicians have to listen collaboratively. I might vote for Obama. But I'll either not vote or vote for McCain if Hillary succeeds in manipulating her party for the nomination.

It seems that Obama is a GREAT "TALKER", but not a Doer!! It's like the old saying, he talks a good game, but the proof is in the pudding. His pudding has no substance. I can't believe that people are buying this Republican Puppeteering

Obama will not ever get my Vote because I will write in Rodham-Clinton to make sure of that..

If Obama is going to try to attract pro-life swing voters he is going to have to make it clear that being pro-choice is not the same as being pro-abortion. As a Catholic, I am morally opposed to abortion, but I also realize that abortion will not be subtantially reduced by making it a crime. There can, however, be a national policy to discourage abortion just as there is a national policy to discourage smoking without making it a criminal offense to light a cigarette. Broad federal subsidies for adoption, birth control, sex education, prenatal care and other "anti-abortion" programs together with ad campaigns encouraging women to make the right "choice" would be far more effective than simply overruling Roe v Wade. The candadate who realizes this and acts on it will get support from both sides on this very difficult issue. I really hope Obama is that candidate.

Clinton has an interesting strategy where she gives Obama no "experience" credit for his time as an Illinois legislature, yet she wants to dissect that time period and criticize Obama for any possible missteps. Obama has far more legislative experience than Clinton, far more experience as an elected official. Sometimes legislatures engage in complicated strategies to get things accomplished. Of course, no one quesitons Obama's liberal credentials - he has far more support by liberals than Clinton. So what is she up to? At worst, this appears to be trying to drive a gendered issue between the candidates - Clinton is better on reproductive issues because she is woman. At best, Clinton wants to attack Obama on anything she possibly can, whether or not it is credible. The Clintons are willing to play politics like Republicans do, and they are willing to do that against fellow Democrats. Maybe that is what we need to win? Or maybe that is just what Clinton needs to win?

I'm sick over her attacks because I've always thought she was better then this. Using divisiveness like has been happening since Obama won Iowa, is that what we are to expect from her campaign? It's quite pathetic and the American people deserve more then someone trying to distort records for political gain, last time I checked that's what Republicans did Hillary!! So, you can take your lies and keep up trying to convince educated people like myself that know Senator Obama's records and keep defending yourself over the next month or you can start talking about the real issues. What Hillary has done lately is give the Republicans enough ammunition to bury her in a general election if she'd win and hopefully that's no the case. Wake up America, you don't cry on TV for votes.

Why does it matter who is pro choice or pro life? The Clintons have never done anything to end abortion. She will say anything to win. A real talker and never a doer.

I had the honor of working with Senator Barack Obama during his tenure in the Illinois Senate. He was - and remains - adamant about his support for women's health and access to reproductive health care services. His present votes on abortion-related legislation were part of a broader strategy designed to ultimately defeat bad and dangerous bills that would have compromised the health and safety of Illinois women. He understands these issues within a broader context of health and prevention. He promotes, both in words and in action, a public health agenda that includes (but is not limited to): prevention of unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases; access to contraception; comprehensive sex education programs (which include information about abstinence as well as age-appropriate information about prevention and the availability of health services); and reducing disparities in health access for low income communities. I was originally thankful that our two main candidates support women's health and reproductive freedom. I am now deeply disappointed that politics has led to deceitful misrepresentations of Senator Obama's commitment and work in this area.

Obama vs. Clinton: Don't make me choose
Posted on The Oregonian January 15, 2008 16:40PM
by SUSHEELA JAYAPAL

Just a few years ago the notion of having a strong, viable woman candidate for president and a strong, viable African-American candidate for president would have been a dream. At this moment, that dream is a reality. But instead of savoring this moment, we seem to be veering into an increasingly poisonous debate over which barrier -- gender or race -- is more deserving of being broken. It needs to end.

I'm sure there are Barack Obama supporters out there urging race as the deciding factor. In the follow-up to Obama's Iowa victory, however, it is Hillary Clinton's supporters who've been most vocal in driving the gender/race wedge. Their argument seems to be that women are and have been more discriminated against than black men, and it's targeted most directly at women: Choose Hillary, because you know how hard it's been for us.

I'm a 45-year old woman of Indian origin. I've experienced discrimination based on race and gender. To those telling me I should choose gender over race: Stop. This line of argument is polarizing and dangerous to our political process. It threatens the chances of whichever candidate becomes the Democratic nominee: If I were a Republican strategist, I'd be rubbing my hands in glee right now. And the argument loses on the merits. It loses on the historical record, it loses on the facts as they are today, and it loses on the issues that hold the most promise for -- and pose the greatest threat -- to our future.

Yes, women have been subjugated, held back, denied rights. But we were not literally and by law enslaved. We were not shackled, hung from a tree or burned on a cross because of our gender. Yes, as Gloria Steinem pointed out in her recent op-ed piece for The New York Times, the Constitution granted black men the right to vote before women of any race were granted that right. But we all know how hollow the Fourteenth Amendment was, and the many ways in which blacks continued to be disenfranchised after its enactment.

Yes, it is still extraordinarily difficult for women to achieve positions of power. But today, 16 women serve in the U.S. Senate, compared to just one African American (only five African Americans have ever been elected to the Senate), and 74 women serve in the U.S. House of Representatives, compared to 43 African Americans.

And finally, looking at the future: Yes, we have to continue to break down gender barriers, or we'll never fully harness the energy of all our citizens. But in areas like education, health care, and many others, race continues to be the more intractable issue, to describe the widest chasm in our society.

So if I had to choose which barrier most needs to be destroyed, I'd choose race. But I don't want to make my decision this way, and I resist being told I should. Most of all, I look forward to the day when we move beyond pitting gender and race against each other.

Susheela Jayapal is a lawyer and community volunteer living in Northeast Portland.

I am a female Democrat looking for a candidate who will define their character by not supporting partial birth abortions. The child always dies and the mother is at high risk of suffering from traumatic stress disorder. This is an important womens reproductive health and children's health issue that needs to be addressed by both the candidates.