By Dave Andrusko

Part Two is a heart wrenching story about "The Search for the Blue-Ribbon Baby." Part Three is an update on the decision by a Canadian premier to have his heart surgery in the United States! If you would like to comment on any of the three parts, please write to daveandrusko@gmail.com. If you'd like, follow me on http://twitter.com/daveha.

It's the day after President Obama's ode to abortion and massive governmental involvement in health care and his proposal is being praised and criticized from sea to shining sea. As the "flagship of the pro-life movement" (Congressman Henry Hyde's famous description of NRLC), we've made our opposition known in comprehensive but understandable terms. (See http://www.nrlc.org/News_and_Views/Feb10/nv022210.html, http://www.nrlc.org/News_and_Views/Feb10/nv022210part2.html, and http://www.nrlc.org/AHC/HouseLetteronAbortionProvisions.html.)

Pro-Life Congressman Bart Stupak (D-Mi.)

What strikes you is how ultimately self-defeating is not just Obama's proposal itself (the pro-abortion Senate bill on steroids) but the determination with which he and the pro-abortion Democratic congressional leadership intend to cram this down the Republicans' throats first, and then ours. All this in the face of every poll showing (1) strong and growing public disapproval to H.R. 3590, and (2) that it is costing President Obama dearly.

Pollster Scott Rasmussen publishes a daily snapshot which captures the intensity of Obama's popularity, or lack thereof, called the "Presidential Approval Index." Yesterday the tracking poll showed that 23% of the nation's voters strongly approve of the way Barack Obama is performing his role as President. By contrast 42% strongly disapprove. That gives Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -19, which ties for the greatest disparity to date.

What makes for a trifecta is the blatantly two-faced rhetoric in which Obama and his allies have wrapped their campaign. The latest phase of the bare-knuckle approach started Monday, three days before the much ballyhooed "health summit" which ostensibly Obama has called to gather Republican input on health care reform. Unfortunately for Obama and pro-abortion Democrats in general, Independents--those with no ties to either party--know callous insincerity and deep cynicism when they see it.

However if you listen to the President, there are only two reasons for the failure of ObamaCare: Republican indifference to the health care needs of ordinary Americans; and his inability to communicate how wonderful his proposal actually is. Let's not bother debating reason one; that is precisely the kind of partisan overkill that Obama insisted had plagued Washington prior to his inaugural.

As for the second part of Obama's justification, let me offer this from James Taranto, who writes the "Best of the Web" blog for the Wall Street Journal. In a post titled, "The Atonal President: ObamaCare is like a bad symphony," he made this astute observation yesterday.

"Obama is asking voters to believe that ObamaCare is a good idea and that the reason they think it is a bad idea is that he isn't good at persuasion. But if he can convince them of that, he can convince them of anything--which means that the claim that he is bad at persuasion is wildly false."

Last month Pro-life Democratic Congressman Bart Stupak appeared on Fox Business Network. Asked about his party's leadership, he said (according to the Washington Examiner), "[C]an I use the word 'overreached?' They tried to hit a homerun with health care instead of hitting -- let's get a single, let's get a double. You know, build on this. But they went for the whole grand slam and it got thrown back. It got too big, too controversial, and it's just like they overreached."

Fast-forward to Monday and Stupak's statement in response to Obama's initiative. It says it all: "Unfortunately, the President's proposal encompasses the Senate language allowing public funding of abortion. The Senate language is a significant departure from current law and is unacceptable."

Please be sure to pass this edition of TN&V along to your friends and make it available to your social networks.

You can do that directly by going to www.nrlc.org/News_and_Views/index.html.  There is a "share" button in the upper left hand corner.

And keep up to date by regularly visiting http://www.nrlactioncenter.com and http://powellcenterformedicalethics.blogspot.com.

Part Two
Part Three