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Veto Caters to the Minority Susan Estrich It could be George W. Bush's first veto. And what a symbolic one it would be: vetoing legislation that nearly three-quarters of the country agrees with. Is it an exercise of political courage or political insanity for a president whose approval ratings are at historic lows to be catering to the core of his base, at the expense of the rest of the country? That is the question this president faces in addressing the issue of embryonic stem cell research. This week, the Senate votes on legislation to loosen the restrictions on federal support of embryonic stem cell research. If the Senate passes the bill, the president has indicated he will veto it. If you're wondering how much power the religious right has, this is the answer. There is hardly a family in America that has not been touched by one of the diseases that researchers hope stem cell research might help them cure: Alzheimer's, diabetes, and Parkinson's top the list. That may explain why polls put forward by supporters of loosening restrictions on federal support of research have found that 72 percent of all Americans are in favor of embryonic stem cell research.
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Opponents claim that these results are deceptively high. They claim that most Americans don't understand that such research requires, at least initially, the destruction of human embryos. Yet, even the Republican-controlled House of Representatives passed legislation last year that would allow federal support if the embryos involved came from a fertility clinic and would have been destroyed anyway. The bill passed on a 238-194 vote, even though anti-abortion forces, accustomed to carrying the day in the House, took the position that destroying an embryo is the equivalent of an abortion. But as advocates pointed out, given that the embryos were going to be destroyed anyway, why not allow them to be used for scientific advancement? It is a measure of the political power of curing disease as a potential issue for the Democrats that logic actually prevailed.
The right-to-life crowd simply has no answer for the modest expansion of federal support for research that this bill represents. Why is it better simply to throw away a human embryo - literally to destroy it outright - than to use it for research in the hopes of saving lives? If one cares about life at all, how do you justify choosing destruction over life saving? What principle supports that choice? Senate Republicans are divided on the issue. A number of moderates are expected to join forces with Democrats to support the legislation, which is why it has a chance of passing. Senator Bill Frist, the majority leader, has broken ranks with the administration on the issue. The principal author of the bill, Michael Castle, is a Republican congressman from Delaware who is already collecting votes for an override effort, although no one has much hope of getting the required two-thirds. Along with the House bill, they will take up two other pieces of legislation, which the administration favors and the president is expected to sign. One would outlaw farming for embryonic tissue. The other would discourage the destruction of embryos. The idea is to sign two and veto one, as if that would make the president look better. Will you be fooled? Probably not.
The real audience for all this isn't you or me or anyone else in the 72 percent group, but the minority, who should be with George Bush anyway. It is a measure of just how weak this president is, and just how much of a grip they have on him. Six years into his presidency, he must use his veto power to play to his base, sounding more like a candidate putting together his coalition than a two-term president speaking for the nation, with Republicans leading the fight to override his veto.
Could there be a better issue for November? Democrats may ultimately be grateful to the president for his exercise of the veto power.
COPYRIGHT 2006 CREATORS SYNDICATE INC.
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