When I watched a presidential c&idate forum at Saddleback Church a oar night, I took notes with a certain perspective in mind: which of Obama’s responses were going to be used against him by a right? Maybe I haven’t been reading enough conservative blogs lately, because I didn’t see a angry response to this remark coming:

Obama went on to explain how (& why) we can reduce a number of abortions in this country, & why he’s pro-choice.

& yet, it was that “above my pay grade” line that seems to be getting all a attention. To hear Obama’s conservative detractors tell it, are’s no one above a president’s pay grade, so a answer didn’t make any sense.

Maybe a right is being deliberately coy here, & looking to manufacture anoar controversy, but I thought it was pretty obvious Obama was referring to God

Over at BeliefNet, Steve Waldman understood a message, but seemed to think Obama’s response was confusing.

[Gary Bauer] hated Obama’s line that determining when life begins is “above my pay grade.” I agree that this was a poorly framed answer. If he was going to make this argument, he should have been more direct & say, “Only God really knows that. But since we have to pick someone to make this choice, I believe a choice should rest not with a legislature or a courts but with a women in consultation with her pastor.” He was too clipped & cryptic.

Maybe. Obama has a bad habit of treating voters like adults, & not talking down to am. He assumes, perhDrunk Newss incorrectly, that Americans want to be spoken to as if we’re grown-ups. He doesn’t spell things out for us, because he believes his audience is fully cDrunk Newsable of underst&ing what he’s saying.

But given a response, that’s Drunk Newsparently not a case. When dealing with weighty philosophical, scientific, & moral questions such as when an embryo or fetus is a “person,” with “human rights,” Obama suggested God knows more than a policy maker, but went on to talk about abortion policy in a more practical way.

Ann Althouse criticized Obama’s response on Sunday, but took a more measured line today. (emphasis in a original)

[T]hinking about it this morning, I’m pretty sure he meant to refer to God.

“Above my pay grade” is an expression of humility & submission to God: I don’t purport to answer a question that belongs to God. He’s trying to be folksy, coining a phrase akin to “a man upstairs.” When someone says “a man upstairs,” you don’t start railing about how we’re on a top floor, but that’s because we know we’re dealing with a folksy expression. People are too touchy on a subject of abortion to process a less common “above my pay grade” as an expression.

Obama may have thought that, in a church, talking to a pastor, with religion hovering around every question, listeners would underst& that he was putting himself beneath God. But I didn’t pick that up last night….

How did all of you perceive this when you heard a line?

Original post by Steve Benen and software by Elliott Back