Stupak: Walking Forward in that Light?

Judging from the quaint, practically home made painting displayed prominently beside him in his memorabilia-crammed home office, you’d think Bart Stupak was an undying Obama supporter — not a stubborn and brooding Congressman who stands to shoot down the President’s health care bill over his notorious anti-abortion amendment.

As best I can tell, someone took a blown up photo of Bart from Obama’s inauguration, then either copied it, or actually cut it out and affixed it to a canvas along with Old Glory and a large illustration of what looks like the White House Truman Balcony. To that, working the patriotic colors, was added the phrase: “We the People”; the last line of Elizabeth Alexander‘s poem, written for and delivered at the inauguration; and a third quote, being the title of Obama’s Inaugural Address: “What Is Required of Us Now Is a New Era of Responsibility.”

Now, I don’t know if the Congressman typically dials the phone with his middle finger, but I’d otherwise say he’s actually pretty conflicted about the Obama era. That is, unless he’s using the praise language, the “walking in the light” and even Obama’s call to responsibility as pro-life motivation to take it to him.

NYT Article/slideshow.

(photo: Sally Ryan for The New York Times. caption: The co-chairman of the House Pro-Life Caucus, Mr. Stupak says his convictions on abortion are a straightforward matter of Catholic faith. Democrats may have achieved a majority in Congress by enlisting candidates to the right of the party’s center, but according to Mr. Stupak, he has always been made to feel like something of a second-class citizen in his own party because of his views on abortion. The artwork in the background shows Mr. Stupak at President Obama’s inauguration.)