By Dave Andrusko

Part Two discusses a remarkable pro-life billboard that has cropped up in neighborhoods across Atlanta. Please send your comments on either part to daveandrusko@gmail.com.

New York Times columnist David Brooks

Before I delve into New York Times columnist David Brooks' very telling appearance on last night's edition of The Charlie Rose Show, let me offer the opening sentence and three other paragraphs from a equally telling story in this morning's Washington Post. Dan Balz and Jon Cohen write in a story headlined "In poll, Republicans gaining political ground on Obama," that

"Republicans have significantly narrowed the gap with Democrats on who is trusted to deal with the country's problems and have sharply reduced several of President Obama's main political advantages, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. …

"But there is about as much time between now and November as has elapsed since Obama held his June advantages. The president and his allies have started a new political offensive, seeking to rebound from the Democrats' loss of the Massachusetts Senate seat long held by the late Edward M. Kennedy and salvage their effort to enact comprehensive health-care reform.

"Obama has begun to try to appeal to voters who see Washington as broken by stressing his commitment to bipartisanship, while aggressively trying to rebut GOP criticisms of his policies. At the same time, he has sought to refocus his energy on the economy and job creation, which remains the public's top priority.

President Barack Obama

"When compared with the early months of Obama's presidency, the GOP's overall gains are striking. A year ago, Democrats held a 26-point advantage on dealing with the big issues; that lead is now six points. At the one-month mark, Obama's lead over the Republicans on dealing with the economy was 35 points; it's now five points."

What is going on? Well, political winds are blowing every which way, but, as always, let me confine the discussion of the turbulence to its impact on our concerns as single-issue pro-lifers.

It's crucial to understand the context, both of the Post story and the Brooks interview. It seems as if the Post has been in the tank for Obama for slightly longer than he has been alive. For the Post Obama can virtually do no wrong.

Brooks is so gushy about Obama that you're embarrassed an adult can behave so much like a star-struck teenager.

You can tell Obama plays him like a violin and has from the beginning.

Why is this important to us? Because these leading lights of the Media Establishment are trying to tell us over and over and over again that (1) the Obama brand, while damaged, can be revived, and (2) those who oppose his agenda are obliged to seek "common ground" with a man who is really a "pragmatist," as Brooks asserted last night.

(Indeed in a head-scratcher of a column last month, Brooks wrote, "The country is now split on Obama, because he is temperate, thoughtful and pragmatic, but his policies are almost all unpopular. If you aggregate the last seven polls on health care reform, 41 percent support it and 51 percent oppose."

(Is it too much to ask if Obama is all that "temperate, thoughtful and pragmatic," how can the popularity of his policies be dropping like a rock?)

But, again, the point for not just these Media Establishment types but for many others is that President Obama is genuinely intent on "bringing the GOP back to the table," as another article in the Post argued. He is such a nice young man. Any partisanship, back-stabbing, and/or treating Republicans like dirt, well that is strictly the fault of those old-timers like pro-abortion Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and pro-abortion House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Anyone can argue anything, but we don't have to accept even one particle if it's all hooey. And so it is with the notion that Obama is eager to perform the domestic counterpart of "reaching across the waters" to international foes. Obama was schooled in Chicago-style politics where they don't take prisoners.

More specifically, he is not some middle-of-the-roader on abortion. Obama is a dyed-in-the-wool ideologue, committed to advancing the abortion agenda here and abroad.

If we allow ourselves to be lulled into a false sense of security, we might be tempted to believe that the health care "reform" measure Obama and the Democratic congressional leadership are attempting to salvage would not constitute the biggest expansion of abortion by Congress since Roe v. Wade. Never, never, never believe they are willing to give this up.

You can read the full Post story and find links to the poll itself at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/10/AR2010021000010.html?nav=hcmodule.  To keep track of the latest pro-abortion machinations, go to http://www.nrlactioncenter.com.

Part Two