As the election progresses, I will attempt to present the positions of the candidates on issues germane to human exceptionalism, assisted suicide, animal rights, health care rationing, in short, all of the grist we grind here at SHS.
This morning, I did a quick search on Obama and assisted suicide and found this interview. It is a complete straddle, which is a disappointment given the import of the issue. In a March newspaper interview he was asked about assisted suicide. His answer from the interview:
I am in favor of palliative medicine in circumstances where someone is terminally ill. ... I’m mindful of the legitimate interests of states to prevent a slide from palliative treatments into euthanasia. On the other hand, I think that the people of Oregon did a service for the country in recognizing that as the population gets older we’ve got to think about issues of end-of-life care....Now, I note that there is an ellipses at the end of the answer, which might have edited out a more definitive response. But I doubt it, since a more definitive response would be newsworthy.
This answer is along the lines of Obama’s “above my pay grade” punt about when human rights attach at the Saddleback Church. Such wiggling may be politically smart, but it is also not leadership.
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