Washington Post reporter Howard Kurtz certainly has his weaknesses. He penned a ridiculous column during the campaign, essentially saying that the "media" had had enough. Of what, you ask?

The worshipful coverage of their designated President-in-waiting, pro-abortion Barack Obama? Of course not. Sen. John McCain's allegedly hard-ball campaigning. Geez.

That and a few other instances aside, Kurtz has served as an informative guide to the media's head-over-heels romance with our now President-elect. Do read his column from today, headlined "A Giddy Sense of Boosterism" for a nice overview of the infatuation with Obama.

The chief competition for a press that has gone bonkers is for which publication can come up with the most "eye-popping superlatives."

No mere mortal could ever live up to the hype, of course, which is why at the same time reporters invoke Lincoln and Roosevelt and JKF and Camelot and "OBAMAISM -- It's a Kind of Religion," they are also dropping hints that even the One might not be able to right all wrongs for a while. (See http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/16/AR2008111602374.html)

But more interesting is a piece from Saturday's Post, written by E.J. Dionne. Dionne was among the most influential commentators making the case that his fellow Catholics ought not only not feel guilty about voting for a pro-abortion-to-the-hilt candidate, but understand that Obama was the "real" pro-life candidate! (See http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/13/AR2008111303364_pf.html)

The thrust of his column is that while it may seem difficult "to end the cultural and religious wars that have disfigured American politics for four decades," all things are possible with Obama. Where to begin "the healing process"? Abortion.

Why believe this can happen? Well, at the end of the third debate, Obama uttered the cast-in-jello promise/observation that "There surely is some common ground." Wow, talk about the triumph of hope over experience.

Understand there is a two-fold investment behind Dionne's remarkably unpersuasive argument. He has told his fellow Catholics (and the rest of us) that Obama really is serious about reducing the number of abortions. And Dionne is a Democrat who knows that his party's whole-hearted commitment to abortion was and remains his party's Achilles Heel.

Oh, by the way, there is one more reason Dionne offers for why Obama can heal "our decades-long conflict over abortion." Obama "has shown he can draw lessons from Bill Clinton's presidency." And while Dionne concedes that as President "Clinton made no major public moves on abortion reduction," Dionne tells us that "abortions did become rarer during Clinton's time in office, dropping by 11 percent." (He's essentially arguing that if by happenstance abortions went down under Clinton, doesn't it follow that they will go down at least as much under Obama?)

So go forth and do likewise only better, Dionne counsels Obama. Where to begin with such gibberish?

Since this is an urban legend that refuses to die, let me summarize what really happened. (1)The number of abortions began to decline under the first President Bush, thanks in no small part to the work of crisis pregnancy centers, educational work, and state legislation. (2)In Clinton's first term the numbers continued to decline under Clinton-–not because of anything he did but in spite of what he did-–but began to go up again in his second term.

(3)Thanks to the work of all pro-lifers but especially NRLC, the number of abortions resumed their downward spiral under pro-life President George W. Bush. The number dropped a stunning 8% between 2000 and 2005. The 1.2 million abortions performed in 2005 is down 25% since it peaked in 1990.

It is understandable that those who did everything but hand out campaign literature for Obama would spin and spin and spin. But it is incumbent on the rest of us not to allow the citizenry to get dizzy.

If and when Obama actually has the chutzpah to say that he has an initiative to "reduce the number of abortions," it will be up to us to clear away the rhetorical underbrush to expose the truth, which is that Obama has no more interest in downshifting his overdrive promises to the Abortion Lobby than we do in standing idly by in neutral while he attempts to fulfill his promises to the Abortion Establishment.

Please send your thoughts to Daveandrusko@gmail.com.

Part Three -- Order NRL News's Special January 22 Commemorative Issue 
Part One -- Pro-Lifers Spring into Action the Day after the Election