"Above my pay grade"

Q (Rick Warren). Now, let’s deal with abortion. 40 million abortions since Roe v. Wade. you know, as a pastor I have to deal with this all of the time. All of the pain and all of the conflicts. I know this is a very complex issue. 40 million abortions. At what point does a baby get human rights in your view?

A (Barak Obama). Well, I think that whether you are looking at it from a theological perspective or a scientific perspective, answering that question with specificity, you know, is above my pay grade. But let me just speak more generally about the issue of abortion because this is something obviously the country wrestles with. One thing that I’m absolutely convinced of is there is a moral and ethical content to this issue. So I think that anybody who tries to deny the moral difficulties and gravity of the abortion issue I think is not paying attention. So that would be point number one.

Not exactly a Presidential answer to any question. Is it just me or is Barak Obama looking and behaving like a playground weakling? First, he allows Hillary Clinton's name to be put into nomination at next week's convention. Let's not forget that Hillary didn't lose by much when it came to delegates and is currently on the outside looking in because of the Super Delegates, or Democratic elected officials, who went for Obama even as the closing states were going to Clinton. Since these voters can change their minds at any time whose to say if Obama's audition over the last few months causes a few to change hands in smoke-filled back room in Denver? Not exactly the type of move that Sun-Tsu or Nicolo Machivelli would recommend to world learders.

Case 2 is the Russian invasion of Georgia. Has there been a clear and decisive statement from Obama yet? Has he been forceful in a way that gives you confidence that if he received the 3AM call that he'd get the Russians to back down the way that Dirty Harry got 'punks' to back down while looking at his Magnam? No. Yet, he goes on as if he gave a definitive answer to the question while the Russian army digs in for the long haul. Meanwhile, John McCain had siezed the issue and came off as more presidential than our sitting President. Strike 2.

Now we see this self-neutering answer to a difficult question in which he clearly did not want to make enemies in his base or among the audience - both live and in santuary. There are more Clintonian ways to answer them. Since I am not as artful as to try to define the word 'is' I'm not going to offer any. However, I am astute enough to know that way that when you do respond you frame the answer in a way that makes you look authoritative and insightful even though some will invariably disagree with you. This response was neither and the end result is frightening because once you occupy the Oval Office there are supposed to be no pay grades above you.