Candidates Address Abortion in Final Debate

Slate: Safe, Legal, and Boring: Can Obama Take the Politics out of Abortion?, by William Saletan:

McCain has been trying to make the election a referendum on character: Country first, Obama pals around with terrorists, yada yada yada. How does abortion fit that mold? By exposing Obama as an extremist. ...Bad. Terrible. Extreme. Clear-cut. Feelings. Mainstream America. This is the way McCain, Sarah Palin, and George W. Bush talk: There's honor and evil, good guys and bad guys. We fight for the good side. Our opponents don't. They're extreme.

Obama argued that "women, in consultation with their families, their doctors, their religious advisers, are in the best position to make this decision." ...Common ground. Prevent. Options. Help. Reduce. These are defusing and calming words. They fit Obama's personality. But more than that, they're pragmatic. They convey action, progress, solution.