In 2016, Don’t Get Fooled Again

The 2016 presidential campaign is in full swing, but candidates have already demonstrated they are not ready to answer questions from the voters and the press. Leading Republican candidate Jeb Bush stumbled all over himself with conflicting answers to a question about whether we should have gone to war in Iraq, while leading Democrat Hillary Clinton continues to ignore questions about her missing emails, her foundation’s fundraising from foreign governments, and her checkered career in and out of government. It looks like we may be in store for another campaign reminiscent of 2008, where candidate Barack Obama arrogantly answered one important question by saying that the question was above his pay grade. The question that produced Obama’s non-answer is often mis-remembered as “When does human life begin?” – a question that depends, in part, on scientific knowledge. The actual question put to Obama was not scientific but legal, which should put it well within Obama’s presumed expertise as a former professor of constitutional law. Obama was really asked, “at what point does a baby get human rights?” Obama’s response was to babble something about “pro-choice” – essentially saying unborn babies do not get human rights at any point. In that same interview, each presidential candidate was asked to “define marriage.” The Republican and Democrat candidates both claimed that they believe marriage is “the union between a man and a woman.” With all of the attacks the Obama administration has made on traditional marriage over the last six years, we can see the falsehood in his supposed position on marriage in 2008. It is more important than ever for voters to watch out for such evasive tactics. We don’t want to be fooled by politicians willing to say anything for a vote before the election and then turning around and doing something completely different after the election.