Obama divides and wedges-- while ending division and wedging

From Noam Levey of the L.A. Times, what turns out to the top of the front page article in today's C-J (although not available, that I can see, on their website)-- the most important story in their eyes. Interesting...

Stepping quickly into an abortion debate he largely avoided as a candidate, President Obama on Friday overturned a controversial ban on U.S. support to international aid groups that provide abortion services around the world.

Reversing the so-called global gag rule was a top priority of abortion rights supporters, who have long criticized the regulation as imperiling women's health, particularly in developing nations.

The new president cast his decision as a breakthrough in the decades-long debate over the federal government's involvement in family planning.

"For too long, international family planning assistance has been used as a political wedge issue, the subject of a back-and-forth debate that has served only to divide us," Obama said in a statement announcing his action. "It is time that we end the politicization of this issue.

Does he really believe that (moronic) or is this just rhetoric (cynical)? Independent on the merits of his position, he takes us from back to forth and doesn't see his actions contributing to political wedges, debates, and divide? Are you kidding me?

President Reagan instituted the rule, also known as the "Mexico City policy," in 1984, stating that the U.S. government would not contribute to groups that "perform or actively promote abortion as a method of family planning in other nations."...President Clinton rescinded the rule shortly after taking office in 1993. Eight years later, President Bush reinstituted it, saying that taxpayer funds should not be used to promote abortions.

Reagan did this with a Democratic Congress, but was unable to get it for domestic entities that perform abortions. Bush-- with a Republican Congress-- failed to address the issue at all, a notable sin of omission.