The leading man contest
By Michael Moriarty
web posted October 20, 2008
Despite John McCain's strongest performance in the third presidential debate, Barack Obama, even according to Fox News, won. This hurts profoundly.
When the question of abortion and the Supreme Court arose, McCain fled to a bipartisan, neutral corner regarding his possible appointments to the Supreme Court. He equivocated -- rather like Rudy Giuliani did with his semantic evasiveness, the former Mayor's version of "strict construction"; only in this case, Senator McCain said his presidency would appoint the best man or woman for the job, no partisan pre-conditions involved.
Obviously a constitutional amendment forbidding the Supreme Court from ever making life, death and freedom "decisions" such as the horrid Dredd Scott, Buck v. Bell and Roe v. Wade decisions is in order.
However, McCain is not even as decisive as Justice Scalia who does recommend a constitutional amendment limiting the scope of the Court's powers. Capital punishment, or any decision involving the end of human life, except for the executive privilege of the president to declare war, should remain a decision by and policy of each state and not the federal government.
Oh, well it's no fun to watch America destroy its integrity and identity over an issue like abortion.
Meanwhile, Obama gave his strongest pro-life spin to his pro-abortion … oops … his "pro-choice" position. He even sounded sincerely sorry for all the unnecessary lost lives – over one million per year in America alone.
Interestingly enough, Senator Obama was very, very touchy about Roe v. Wade being called "pro-abortion". It was his most telling moment in the debate. However, calling Roe v. Wade pro-abortion is like calling Dredd Scott pro-slavery. Most people, who are not lawyers, would agree with me.
With Obama's reasoning and immensely calm, almost flat delivery, Roe v. Wade, with a President Obama's unfailing support, will live on as lawyers' law indefinitely.
Like I said, this was a very, very depressing debate. Watching the silver-tongued Obama defending an inhumane decision was superior to even Maximilian Schell's brilliant defense of Nazi defendants in the film, Judgement At Nuremberg. If you recall that performance, Schell brings up the Supreme Court's Buck v. Bell decision, the one that ordered the sterilization of a "mentally unfit" citizen of the United States. Imagine if that lawyer also had Roe v. Wade to throw into his evidence for the defense, his proof that even America practiced eugenics (see Francis Galton and Margaret Sanger).
Under the Supreme Court now, the Down Syndrome child of Sarah Palin, Trig, wouldn't be sterilized. He would be dead, if that infant's parents had collapsed under the pressure of the mainstream media and Planned Parenthood.
As I've frequently indicated, these are such politely, eloquently and calmly vicious times; and you've got to hand it to Obama, he's certainly as convincing -- or even more convincing than Maximilian Schell when it comes to defending the indefensible.
The Supreme Court has made us abide by the legality of abortion in the same way that the court's Dredd Scott decision made us abide by the legality of the slave trade in the slave-holding South. That decision forced the free North to return slaves to the eventually Confederate South.
The charmingly persuasive tongue of Obama will succeed in veiling the coldly homicidal weight of Roe v. Wade under the seemingly honorable demand for a woman's civil rights.
There is nothing "civil" about abortion!!
You see? My anger destroys my own case. Obama's calm -- or as they've shown in Hollywood his "underplaying almost everything" -- wins the Leading Man Contest.
In Progressive legalese, Dredd Scott was not so much pro-slavery as pro-states' rights and honoring the South's "cultural idiosyncrasies".
Likewise, at least according to Barack Obama, Roe v. Wade should not be considered pro-abortion but "pro-choice", honoring a woman's right -- in the same way Dredd Scott honored states' rights.
Roe v. Wade summed up the most conveniently complicated distinctions within the muddy waters of a Supreme Court decision, brought them all together to legalize murder; and, of course, no one defends it better than Barack Obama.
Senator Obama's cunning defense of Roe v. Wade is what I believe catapulted him into the Democratic Party's faith in not only his presidential caliber but what will prove to be one of his major jobs as president in the coming years, his obligation to defend abortion. There is the real dividing line between Republican and Democrat: abortion.
The present economic nightmare and the economic bailout plan we're in are such bi-partisan creations that it reveals how much alike the two parties are domestically … except for their positions on Roe v. Wade. The next Democratic president must not only defend abortion but must appoint judges to the Supreme Court who will insure Roe v. Wade's continued existence.
In the last debate, Obama made it unquestionably clear that protecting Roe v. Wade is exactly what he's going to do. He certainly didn't lose Hillary's support.
The South used to sing Dixie … while the North still sings Lady Day's "Strange Fruit".
Stephen Douglas of Illinois debated Abraham Lincoln over slavery and won!
Barack Obama of Illinois debated Alan Keyes over abortion and won!
Obviously the "Strange Fruit" of gestating infants is still being "picked".
The most victorious moment for Obama was when the National Democratic Party fell in love with him as a presidential candidate. Not even Hillary or Bill Clinton could defend abortion as eloquently as Obama already had. Is it any wonder the Clintons lost the primary?
Barack Obama debated John McCain for the presidency of the United States and seems to have won … however, since Obama reminds me so much of Maximilian Schell in Judgement Of Nuremberg, John McCain reminds me of the aging Spencer Tracy in the same film, that wise, old justice who took his time making up his mind about the defendants. He judged wisely and he judged well -- even Burt Lancaster who played one of the defendants thought so.
God willing the American people, as a kind of jury, will agree with Spencer Tracy and not Maximilian Schell.
If Obama fans find this editorial and its metaphors a little over the top, I refer you to the recent mistake of the respected John Lewis when he compared my Spencer Tracy, John McCain, to the racist George Wallace.
Who, in the end, will history list as the Real Leading Men and Women? Will they be John Lewis, Barack Obama and Planned Parenthood … or John McCain and the Republican Party of Abraham Lincoln … also the party of Sarah Palin?
Lincoln would have never, as Planned Parenthood frequently has, equated pregnancy with slavery.
Finally, Abe Lincoln, long-term, has always won the American Leading Man Contest. If you don't believe me, just ask the quintessentially mainstream Time Magazine. He is still that publication's "Greatest American". 
Michael Moriarty is a Golden Globe and Emmy Award-winning actor who starred in the landmark television series Law and Order from 1990 to 1994. His recent film and TV credits include The Yellow Wallpaper, 12 Hours to Live, Santa Baby and Deadly Skies. Moriarty is also running for President of the United States in 2008 as a candidate for the Realists Party. To find out more about Moriarty's presidential campaign, contact rainbowfamily2008@yahoo.com.