Searching for moral clarity when there is nothing but ambiguity.

Hemingway:

When asked "At what point does a baby get human rights, in your view?," McCain answered "At the moment of conception." Obama's answer here was flaming-dirigible bad:

Whether you are looking at it from a theological perspective or a scientific perspective, answering that question with specificity is, you know, above my pay grade.

That spectacularly inept metaphor is going to haunt Obama throughout the rest of the campaign. News flash: There's not a job on the planet above the pay grade of the President of the United States. If you can't solve every problem and are humble about it, that's fine — but you can't get away with being unsure about the most defining moral issue in politics.

Does Hemingway really think that abortion is "the most defining moral issue in politics"? Not war? Not capital punishment? Not poverty?

And if reasonable, intelligent people of faith disagree about abortion, how can one be absolutely "sure" who is right? George Bush's wife and mother thinks abortion should remain legal. Is Hemingway saying he's sure that they're wrong? Are the majority of Americans who want abortion to remain legal also all wrong?

The moral arrogance of the right -- and their childish need to have moral absolutes when none exist -- is always staggering.

Big tent party!