EDITORIAL: Obama Chooses Senator Biden for VP and the Battle for Life is Engaged

In choosing Senator Joe Biden, the Obama campaign has guaranteed that the Right to Life will continue to be a preeminent issue in the Presidential campaign of 2008.

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CHESAPEAKE, Va. (Catholic Online) - After the most intense media game of "cat and mouse" in modern political history. After the Obama campaign managed to keep the suspense alive for well over a week. After promising to be the first campaign in history to make the announcement through the use of text message. The old fashioned "leak it to the media" game prevailed over high technology in Washington D.C. as speculation evolved into reliable rumors. Finally, around 3 AM, EST, it was confirmed as fact. Senator Barack Obama had chosen long time Senator Joe Biden of Delaware to be his Vice Presidential running mate.

The Obama campaign scrambled to fulfill their promise to the faithful, and the curious, who had signed up to be a part of political history. They sent the long awaited cell phone text message, probably awakening millions, at least on the East Coast, to herald what was essentially old news, "Barack has chosen Senator Joe Biden to be our VP nominee."

The major networks were all following the homes and the travels of the three "finalists" most of the day. The speculation was running rampant and the news cycle focused on very little else throughout the day. It appeared to this political observer that Fox News zeroed in on Joe Biden first on their Friday evening telecast.Others say it was MSNBC. Soon,all of the networks broke the story.

The Obama campaign placed a new banner on their Web Site picturing the two men, announcing the new Democratic Ticket with these words underneath: "Barack has chosen Joe Biden to be his running mate. Joe Biden brings extensive foreign policy experience, an impressive record of collaborating across party lines, and a direct approach to getting the job done. We have our team, but we also have our work cut out for us. Barack Obama and Joe Biden are the leaders who will bring the change our country needs. But they can't do it alone. Show your support for the Obama-Biden ticket by making a donation today."

The Choice of a Catholic Running Mate

So the fresh face of American politics has chosen as his Vice Presidential running mate a "seasoned" white haired fixture of Democratic politics, best known for his interest in foreign policy, with 30 years in the US Senate. Senator Biden has served as Chair of the Senate Foreign relations Committee and the Judiciary Committee, with its significant role in Supreme Court nominations. Already the Washington rumor mills are abuzz and the pundit class has taken a deep breath preparing for a new round of pontification. Frankly, there seems to be very little excitement and a whole lot of surprise.

I suggest that the choice of Biden was strategic on a number of fronts,many of which will be dissected in the endless punditry which will fill the airwaves this weekend. However, what will soon become apparent is the Obama campaigns' efforts to stem the steady loss of Catholic and Evangelical support based upon the candidates support for unrestricted abortion affirmed during the Saddleback Civil Forum. He had tried hard, through surrogates like Doug Kmiec and others, to present a softer side, an apparent opening to reconsidering the Democratic Parties' obsession with the deprivation of human rights from children in the womb over the last two decades. All of that was teetering on being lost.

So, enter Joe Biden the Catholic. Joe Biden is a native of Scranton, Pennsylvania has Irish, blue collar, working-class roots which he will certainly attempt to bring to the campaign. He is a practicing Roman Catholic Christian. Along with his wife Jill, he attends St. Patrick Church, which is a part of the Diocese of Wilmington in Delaware. His careful discussion concerning all of the issues related to the deprivation of rights from children in the womb have been careful and strategic. He is a talented debater, a solid interviewee, a careful speaker on this issue. I believe that the Obama campaign is counting on this to stem the loss and attempt to reengage the efforts to attract Catholics and other orthodox Christians who simply will not accept any candidate who argues that an entire class of persons, children in the first home of the whole human race, can be summarily killed and that such an action should be called a "right".

Joe Biden is also a member of that group of Catholics, from both major parties, who have come under unrelenting scrutiny from a growing and vocal part of the Catholic lay faithful. These Republicans and Democrats try to expound a "public/private" dichotomy on the fundamental human rights issue of our age, the Right to life from conception to natural death. Senator Biden the Catholic purports to be personally opposed to abortion and to "accept" the clear Catholic teaching that all human life is sacred and must be protected and respected from the moment of conception, throughout all of life's spectrum and to a natural death. Yet, in his own words, he also "strongly supports Roe v Wade", which was the Supreme Court decision that entrenched unrestricted abortion as the positive law in America.

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While still a candidate for the Presidency himself, he participated in the NBC sponsored Presidential debate of April 27, 2008 in South Carolina. The venue gave him the opportunity to summarize his position as he responded to a question concerning the nomination of potential Supreme Court Justices and the decision of that Court in affirming the federal ban on partial birth abortions:

MODERATOR: Senator Biden, as president would you have a specific litmus test question on Roe v. Wade that you would ask of your nominees for the high court?

BIDEN: I strongly support Roe v. Wade. I wouldn't have a specific question but I would make sure that the people I sent to be nominated for the Supreme Court shared my values; and understood that there is a right to privacy in the United States Constitution. That's why I lead the fight to defeat Bork. Thank God he is not in the court or Roe v. Wade would be gone by now.

Number two, that's why I was so outspoken and have been criticized for being outspoken and leading the effort to try to defeat Roberts and Alito. That's why I opposed, the other, Thomas on the court. The truth of the matter is that this decision (Ed: referring to Partial Birth Abortion) was intellectually dishonest. I think it is a rare procedure that should only be available when the woman's life and health is at stake.

But, what this court did is it took that decision, and it said -- put a Trojan horse in -- through dishonest reasoning, laid the groundwork for undoing Roe v. Wade. That's the danger of this decision. Not the specific procedure, but the rationale offered to justify, I think, the next step they're going to try to take."

So, Senator Biden has tried to have it both ways. To say that he supports the ban on "Partial Birth" abortion but also opposed the Supreme Courts decision to uphold it? In an April 29th interview with the late Tim Russert on "Meet the Press" the now Vice Presidential candidate was asked to elaborate further on this position:

MR. RUSSERT: Let me talk--turn to abortion. The ban on partial-birth abortions or late-term abortions, you supported that ban.
SEN. BIDEN: I did and I do.
MR. RUSSERT: And the Supreme Court came and basically upheld that ban...
SEN. BIDEN: That's right.
MR. RUSSERT: ...and you criticized the Supreme Court.
SEN. BIDEN: I'll tell you why I criticized the Supreme Court. They upheld the ban, and then they engaged in what we lawyers call dicta that is frightening. You had an intellectually dishonest rationale for an honest justification for upholding the ban, and that was this: They went further, and then they, in the language associated with the decision said, by the way, they blurred whether there is the first trimester and third trimester in how much--I know this is going to sound arcane to the listeners--but whether or not they blurred the distinction between the government's role in being involved in the first day and the ninth month.

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They blurred the role in terms of whether or not there is--they became paternalistic, talking about the court could consider the impact on the mother and keeping her from making a mistake. This is all code for saying, "Here we come to undo Roe v. Wade." And it went on to say, by the way, that the life of the mother was, in fact, permissible exception, and it went on to say that even--that any woman could challenge, even if her health is at risk, could come back to the court to challenge that. So the bottom line here is, what they did is not so much the decision, the actual outcome of the decision, it's what attended the decision that portends for a real hard move on the court to undo the right of privacy. That's what I'm criticizing about the court's decision.

MR. RUSSERT: You have changed your position on abortion. When you came to the Senate, you believed that Roe v. Wade was not correctly decided and that you also believed a right of abortion was not secured by the Constitution. Why did you change your mind?

SEN. BIDEN: Well, I was 29 years old when I came to the United States Senate, and I have learned a lot. Look, Tim, I'm a practicing Catholic, and it is the biggest dilemma for me in terms of comporting my, my religious and cultural views with my political responsibility. And the decision that I have come to is Roe v. Wade is as close to we're going to be able to get as a society that incorporates the general lines of debate within Christendom, Judaism and other faiths, where it basically says there is a sliding scale relating to viability of a fetus. We can argue about whether or not it's precisely set, whether it's right or wrong in terms of its three months as opposed to two months, but it does encompass, I've come to conclude, the only means by which, in this heterogeneous society of ours, we can read some general accommodation on what is a religiously charged and a publicly-charged debate. That's the, that's the decision I've come to.

Even within our own church, there's been debates about life, you know, from, from "Summa Theologica," Aquinas, and 40 days to quickening and right to, you know, you know, Pious IX, animated fetus doctrine and so on. So this--the, the, the decision's the closest thing politically to what has been the philosophic divisions existent among the major confessional faiths in our country. And that's why, I think, that's why I've come to the conclusion some long time ago, over 25 years ago, that is the--it is the template which makes the most sense.

MR. RUSSERT: Are you still opposed to public funding for abortion?

SEN. BIDEN: I still am opposed to public funding for abortion, and the reason I am is, again, it goes to the question of whether or not you're going to impose a view to support something that is not a guaranteed right but an affirmative action to promote.

MR. RUSSERT: Were you yourself--do you believe that life begins at conception?

SEN. BIDEN: I am prepared to accept my church's view. I think it's a tough one. I have to accept that on faith. That is a tough, tough decision to me. But there is a point relatively soon where viability--it's clear to me when there's viability, meaning the ability to survive outside the womb, that I don't have any doubt. That's why the late-term abortion, and that's why I continue, like your old boss Pat Moynihan, shared the same view, he was very pro-choice is--to use the jargon. But he, like me, believed that you have this notion of abortion in the last month, where there's clearly viability. And if you make that judgment based upon the nature of the child's health, that is not a good basis for a societal decision. Only the mother's health should be--dictate the outcome then. Otherwise, you, you yield to the side of the--of, of, of the fetus, which is almost full term"

So, Senator Obama continues his quest to obfuscate by choosing an intelligent Catholic who tries to confuse this vital and foundational issue for Catholics, other orthodox Christians, many other people of faith and people of good will. True, there is some language that is hopeful in this answer like Biden's apparent opposition to public funding for abortion. However, the last answer, in which he tried to rely on St. Thomas in order to hint that the teaching office of the Catholic Church has been anything but unequivocally clear on the issue of the Right to Life for children from the moment of conception, cannot go unchallenged. Let me go right to one of many, many sources in an unbroken 2000 year tradition, only the latest use of infallible language in the Papal Encyclical of the late Servant of God John Paul II. I quote from paragraph 57 of "The Gospel of Life":

"Therefore, by the authority which Christ conferred upon Peter and his Successors, and in communion with the Bishops of the Catholic Church, I confirm that the direct and voluntary killing of an innocent human being is always gravely immoral. This doctrine, based upon that unwritten law which man, in the light of reason, finds in his own heart (cf. Rom 2:14-15), is reaffirmed by Sacred Scripture, transmitted by the Tradition of the Church and taught by the ordinary and universal Magisterium.

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"The deliberate decision to deprive an innocent human being of his life is always morally evil and can never be licit either as an end in itself or as a means to a good end. It is in fact a grave act of disobedience to the moral law, and indeed to God himself, the author and guarantor of that law; it contradicts the fundamental virtues of justice and charity. "Nothing and no one can in any way permit the killing of an innocent human being, whether a fetus or an embryo, an infant or an adult, an old person, or one suffering from an incurable disease, or a person who is dying. Furthermore, no one is permitted to ask for this act of killing, either for himself or herself or for another person entrusted to his or her care, nor can he or she consent to it, either explicitly or implicitly. Nor can any authority legitimately recommend or permit such an action".

"As far as the right to life is concerned, every innocent human being is absolutely equal to all others. This equality is the basis of all authentic social relationships which, to be truly such, can only be founded on truth and justice, recognizing and protecting every man and woman as a person and not as an object to be used. Before the moral norm which prohibits the direct taking of the life of an innocent human being "there are no privileges or exceptions for anyone. It makes no difference whether one is the master of the world or the poorest of the poor' on the face of the earth. Before the demands of morality we are all absolutely equal".

There is much more to be unpacked concerning Senator Joseph Biden's sophistry and his effort to obfuscate the teaching of his own Church so as to justify his infidelity as a Catholic on this foundational Human Rights issue. It was intellectually dishonest to attempt to refer to the late master of the moral life and preeminent philosopher of the Western Christian tradition, St. Thomas Aquinas, on this issue in the way that Senator Biden did. This out of context reference to St.Thomas was rooted in the then prevailing mistaken biology of the great teachers age as to how children were conceived. It must be considered within the broad context of Aquinas' unequivocal opposition to abortion. In fact, the Saint rightly equated the act to murder.

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It also must be seen within the broader, unbroken, two thousand year teaching of the Catholic Church that every procured abortion is the taking of innocent human life and is intrinsically evil. Senator Biden sings with the chorus of sophists, not unlike Senator Kerry in the last election, Catholics who will try to use their Church identity to accomplish their political goal while remaining unfaithful to their own Churches teaching.

However, even more importantly, the truth revealed in that Church teaching does not depend upon it. It is a truth that is revealed in the Natural Law and is knowable by all men and women through the exercise of human reason. Senator Biden is fond of citing his Catholic education. Therefore he knows the teaching on Natural Law. He, along with Mario Cuomo who invented the ploy, John Kerry, and all of the others, also know this.

However, they have gotten away with it in elections past. Not this time. The Catholic lay faithful are more active, vocal and unwilling to allow the continued shedding of the blood of innocent children to remain the law of the land. Without the right to life there are no other rights. In fact, the entire hierarchy of rights is thrown into jeopardy. Without the freedom to be born, every other freedom is unable to be exercised because freedom itself is a good of human persons.

In choosing Senator Joe Biden, the Obama campaign has guaranteed that the Right to Life will continue to be a preeminent issue in the Presidential campaign of 2008. Senator McCain's performance in the Saddleback Civil Forum, with his clear defense of human rights from conception to natural death was encouraging. That is with the notable and important exception of his failure to defend human embryonic life of which I have written regularly in the past. All eyes now turn to his own choice for Vice President.

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