Obama broke the rules. Elected as the liberal's liberal, he promised to end the anti-science dogma of the Bush presidency. Stem cell research, abortion rights and contraceptive choice were out of the firing line. Rationalism returned to America.
But that was 2008, and another election is just around the corner. Obama's had a tough four years. He must win back his voters, but the Hope & Change appeal of the last campaign now seems hackneyed and out of touch. He needs a new approach.
Last week, the world got a glimpse of Obama's latest tactics. He became the first president to reject Food and Drug Administration recommendations. The FDA informed the US government that it was finally safe to sell Plan B, the morning after pill, over the counter. This practice has been common for many years in the UK, where more progressive policy has sanctioned the off-prescription sale of a similar emergency contraception, Levonelle, since 2001.
But Obama has a different opinion. "As a father of two daughters, I think it important to make sure we apply some common sense to various rules when it comes to over-the-counter medicine," he said. The president was concerned that youngsters would be able pick up emergency contraception "alongside bubblegum."
This is Obama's new campaign ticket. Ignore the science, the studies, the impartial experts. Just go with your gut. No matter the social fallout of a glib choice. UK teenage conception rates have fallen steadily since the introduction of over-the-counter emergency contraception. Unwanted births and ruined lives of unprepared young people were avoided. But this won't happen in America, because a left wing politician has chosen a right wing vote winner over the considered, consistent advice of those best placed to make this decision.
Obama's choice will benefit no-one but himself. It may, in the short term, win a little favour with a conservative electorate. But it's a signal that social progress is once again stagnant in the USA. Fourteen Democratic senators have written to the president, demanding to know the scientific basis behind his decision. I doubt they'll receive a satisfactory answer. The pervasive politics of pro-life versus pro-choice is the antithesis of a reasoned debate.
I look at American healthcare politics with fear of what's to come on this side of the Atlantic. We are already experiencing the creeping privatisation of the NHS, and inappropriate abortion debates have recently dominated the House Of Commons. The bleak future of healthcare is one where unnecessary suffering is the ignored byproduct of political point-scoring. If Obama can succumb to it, there's little hope for the rest of us.
Follow Joshua North on Twitter: www.twitter.com/drjoshnorth
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Joshua could have written about other things Mr. Obama dud as a political move before next year's election. His liberal supporters should applaud his moves to defeat the radical Republicans. If either Gingrich or Romney are elected, the issue of the-morning-after will be a trivial matter. Liberal will be in for a rude awakening as it happened in the 2010 midterm election when the TeaGOP overwhelmed the American politics while libs were having a siesta.
I don't really understand what your point is. Partly because I can't really read what you write. But the above is true of the UK, at any rate.