Reply #208: Consider the audience, yes. [View All]

He's trying to sell the concept of being pro-choice to the 700 Club. As South Dakota recently demonstrated, women's rights can be greatly advanced in the court of public opinion if we present our arguments in terminology that religious people find nonthreatening. Obama is explaining, to a religious audience, that he is pro-choice because he trusts women to make their own decisions. He equates religion with morality, because that is what his audience needs to hear to understand.

Like it or not, religion is a force in American politics. It's been harnessed for evil by the Republicans so often, I think we lose sight of the fact that it can be harnessed for good. If Obama wants to go talk to religious people and explain how left-wing views are compatible with Christianity, good.