Rich: Sure it’s good that Sen. Clinton acknowledges that abortion is a tragedy and that the number of abortions should be reduced. It’s better than if she celebrated abortion as a great gift to the liberation of half of humanity, or something like that. But this isn’t a concession the way the idea that we had to end welfare as we know it was. Liberals had previously maintained that welfare as we know it was a largely good idea–Mario Cuomo used to argue that the system needed reform less than it needed more money. By contrast, liberals have been saying that abortion is a sad thing and that we need more federal funding for sex education to reduce the abortion rate for a long, long time. Bill Clinton, as you remember, talked about making abortion “safe, legal, and rare.” This isn’t a concession; it’s what liberals supposedly believe. Didn’t someone once say that a liberal is a person who thinks his own position is already a compromise with you?