Paying attention

This is a pretty good Grace column about the way the political ground has shifted under John Bel with regard to abortion. There's a problem, though, with the opening paragraph where it is implied that those criticizing the Govenror for preparing to sign an abortion ban now "weren't paying attention" to his views when they voted for him in 2015.

The wider world, and even some Louisianans who weren’t paying attention, seem to just be discovering a basic truth about Gov. John Bel Edwards. Yes, he’s a Democrat — a real, true-believing, progressively minded one. And yes, he opposes legal abortion.

I don't think that's what has been going on. It's perfectly acceptable for voters who have been "paying attention" to make choices based on the relative merits of the options available even if that choice isn't a total reflection of a each voter's priorities and values. In fact most voters who pay even a little bit of attention will find most office seekers are repugnant individuals anyway.  Elections are mostly about figuring out which candidates to vote against. Votes, like retweets, are not actually endorsements.

Grace's better observation is that the Governor's abortion position is no longer some matter of convenience for him. At least, morally speaking, it isn't. Because Republicans have loaded the courts with right wing freaks (like Brett Kavanaugh, obviously, but also, somewhat ironically, Wendy Vitter) John Bel's decision isn't just some matter of electoral triangulation. The Governor, as well as his scandalously disappointing liberal defenders, would have us believe there's nothing John Bel could do here even if he wanted to.  Not only is he following through on his own beliefs, they argue, he's also just pragmatically following the will of the voters.   

Governor Edwards said he’s confident most of Louisiana’s voters feel the same.

“People of Louisiana are overwhelmingly pro-life, and this is conversation that we’ve been having here for many, many years,” he said. “It’s not any different.”

But this year, it is different.  The "fetal heartbeat' bill John Bel is preparing to sign is an extremist measure.  If the right wing courts were to allow it to be enforced, it will  have horrendous real life consequences for real life Louisiana women.  The most frequently cited poll of Louisiana voters is this 2016 LSU survey.  55% of respondents agreed that abortion should be illegal either in all (26%) or most (29%) cases.

That's a majority but it isn't an "overwhelming" majority. And within that majority, even, there are a sizeable number of persuadable respondents willing to consider circumstances under which abortion should be legal.  The circumstance we're faced with now is the threat that an extreme and dangerous law could be ratified and enforced precipitating a horrific and completely preventable public health crisis. It's reasonable, then, to expect our proud "moderate" of a Governor to veto such a law without incurring catastrophic political damage.  Some damage, maybe, but certainly a fight worth having. At least it is if the Governor is at all interested in protecting the health care and basic human right to personal autonomy of Louisianians who had little choice but to vote for him in 2015 anyway.  But why would we expect that he's been paying attention to them?