McCain, Obama and the culture war

OPINION:

For all those who think Sen. John McCain’s prospects of victory look dim with only a few days left in the presidential campaign, consider the fact that Ronald Reagan lagged eight percentage points behind Jimmy Carter with just 10 days to go in the 1980 election and ended up winning 46 states.

Such a stark turnaround may be unrealistic this year, but it should give McCain supporters hope that defeat is not at all inevitable. In fact, if Mr. McCain and any conservative candidates emphasize the right issues, I see no reason why he cannot leave the pollsters scratching their heads again on Nov. 4.

In an election understandably dominated by economic and foreign-policy concerns, there has been little discussion of abortion, marriage and the courts. That is a shame, because at a pivotal moment in American politics and culture, values issues remain a top priority for millions of voters, and a net benefit to conservative candidates who talk about them.

During the debates, the candidates (including the vice-presidential nominees) debated for more than 336 minutes (and more than 60,000 words) before moderator Bob Schieffer deployed Sen. Barack Obama and Mr. McCain to deploy to the frontlines of the culture war with a question about Roe v. Wade and abortion. Before Mr. Schieffer’s question, the words “abortion,” “pro-life” and “pro-choice” had not been uttered in any of the presidential or vice-presidential debates. Roe v. Wade had been mentioned only once.

But a recent Gallup poll found that abortion remains important to 62 percent of voters. These voters might want to know that Mr. Obama has pledged to sign the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA), which would nullify hundreds of popularly enacted state and federal laws restricting abortion. A new study indicates that FOCA would add 125,000 yearly abortions to a nation already devastated by 4,000 a day.

Abortion’s demographic repercussions continue to shape voting patterns and are a driving force behind America’s fast-approaching entitlements crisis. The 50.5 million surgical abortions since 1970 cost the United States $35 trillion in lost gross domestic product, according to a study by the Movement for a Better America.

At a recent rally in Pennsylvania, Sarah Palin summarized the situation, saying, “In times like these, with wars and financial crisis, I know that it may be easy to forget even as deep and abiding a concern as the right to life, and it seems that our opponent kind of hopes you will forget that.”

Mrs. Palin is right. Why would Mr. Obama discuss an issue in which words like “radical,” “partial birth” and “infanticide” can be credibly linked to his name? It is scandalous that prominent news organizations refuse to publish ads that highlight Mr. Obama’s abortion extremism, especially when millions of voters remain ignorant about his record.

As The Washington Times has reported, a new Marist Institute poll found 84 percent of respondents feel “abortion should be significantly restricted.” These voters need to know where the candidates stand on abortion.

Marriagewas mentioned just once during the debates. Three states (Florida, Arizona and California) will vote on marriage protection amendments on Election Day. If any fails, it would surely hasten what many conservatives fear is an approaching reality: same-sex marriage from Maine to Maui.

The implications of same-sex marriage include significant threats to First Amendment rights. Mr. Obama supports repealing the Defense of Marriage Act, a development that would allow married homosexual couples to sue for legal recognition in any state. By opposing the California initiative, Mr. Obama has also signaled that he supports homosexual marriage, a position that, according to Marist, puts him at odds with 70 percent of Americans.

On marriage, as with abortion, conservatives benefit from much greater intensity of belief. According to Gallup, while 2 percent of same-sex marriage advocates define themselves as single-issue voters on marriage, a quarter of traditional- marriage supporters support only candidates who share their view on the issue.

With little fanfare, Connecticut’s Supreme Court recently imposed same-sex marriage on its residents, becoming the third state supreme court to do so. San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsome told Californians that same-sex marriage is coming “whether you like it or not.” But that will happen only if traditional-marriage candidates remain silent.

The U.S. Supreme Courtwas largely ignored until the closing minutes of the final debate. But the judiciary matters, perhaps more than any other issue.

Consider that on Inauguration Day, six of the Supreme Court’s nine justices will be at least 69 years old. The next president will likely appoint at least one justice in his first term. Consider also that the average tenure of Supreme Court justices since 1970 is 26 years. While presidents remain in office for four or eight years, Supreme Court appointees shape our laws for decades.

The next president will also appoint hundreds of judges to fill vacancies in the lower federal courts, whose decisions affect laws on everything from abortion and marriage to immigration and gun rights.

Experts predict a strengthened Democratic majority in the House of Representatives and perhaps a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. That means, as Walter Dellinger, former acting solicitor general in the Clinton administration, said recently, “President Obama is going to be able, I think, to name whoever he wishes to the court and have that person confirmed.”

Conservatives rightly complain about judges who wield political power to redefine our most basic values. And with Mr. Obama pledging to appoint precisely those types of judges, conservative candidates ought to speak up.

The Marist poll found that 71 percent of Americans believe the nation’s moral compass is “pointing in the wrong direction.” And, though economic and national security concerns remain foremost on voters’ minds, by focusing also on values issues, conservative candidates can get pointed in the right direction come Election Day.

Gary Bauer is president of American Values and chairman of Campaign for Working Families.