In a Tuesday appearance on “The View,” potential presidential candidate Howard Schultz argued voters should downplay the importance of abortion and be willing to elect candidates whose values on cultural issues oppose their own.
After the former Starbucks CEO said he would not have supported Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation to the Supreme Court, co-host Meghan McCain questioned Schultz about what type of person he would put on the Supreme Court. “Pro-life?” she asked. “Well, no, I’m a pro-choice person,” Schultz replied.
“You already lost me. I’m really pro-life,” said McCain. “I shouldn’t lose you,” Schultz started to say, before McCain pressed, “What lane are you going in?”
“This is the problem,” said Schultz. “We should be able to disagree on those kind of issues and yet come together on what’s most important for the country.”
He later elaborated, “I think the most important thing facing the country right now is not the issue of abortion or the cultural issues that divide us. The most important thing facing the country right now is answering the question in the affirmative, and that is ‘Do we believe that our children and grandchildren are going to have a better life than we do?’ And most Americans today believe that is not the case, and that is unacceptable to me.”
Though he declined to answer McCain’s question, Schultz is apparently trying to find a lane that involves appealing only to people who don’t believe important cultural questions, abortion included, will have any significant impact on their children’s future— and telling the rest of the electorate their priorities are “the problem” with politics.
Decrying hyper-partisanship is fair enough, but telling people who believe abortion involves the taking of human life that their singular focus on the issue is “the problem” with politics seems to be an ill-advised campaign strategy for a centrist hoping to steal enough votes from both political parties to win a presidential election.
