Safe, Legal, and Never

William Saletan, on Hillary Clinton's abortion strategy:

Not this time. Abortion is 'a sad, even tragic choice to many, many women,' said Clinton. Then she went further: 'There is no reason why government cannot do more to educate and inform and provide assistance so that the choice guaranteed under our constitution either does not ever have to be exercised or only in very rare circumstances.' Does not ever have to be exercised. I searched Google and Nexis for parts of that sentence tonight and got no hits. Is the press corps asleep? Hillary Clinton just endorsed a goal I've never heard a pro-choice leader endorse. Not safe, legal, and rare. Safe, legal, and never. Once you embrace that truth-that the ideal number of abortions is zero-voters open their ears. They listen when you point out, as Clinton did, that the abortion rate fell drastically during her husband's presidency but has risen in more states than it has fallen under George W. Bush. I'm sure these trends have more to do with economics than morals, but that's the point. Once we agree that the goal is zero, we can stop asking which party yaps more about fighting abortion and start asking which party gets results.

This is the sort of policy, if the left embraces it, that could seriously erode Republican margins in the red states. It is also brilliant positioning for a potential Presidential race.