Principles or Compromise?

Here in Massachusetts, as everyone knows, we lost our senior senator, Ted Kennedy. And now there’s a race to fill his seat. One of those running is our female attorney general, Martha Coakley, who has a strong following among Democratic women. But Coakley just took a stand that could jeopardize her position as a front runner: she said she wouldn’t vote for health care bill approved by the House last Saturday because it restricts federal funding for abortion. I happen to be a strong advocate for choice and was disappointed but not surprised to see that provision in the health care bill and thought it was a compromise that probably had to be made. Coakley’s stand surprised me and it raised a key leadership question. In the long run, what is wiser: holding to your principles or compromising in order to move forward? I’ll be interested to see how the answer unfolds.