Barack Obama today said he supports allowing gays to marry. While this is an important win for gay rights, I’m not terrifically impressed nor do I think it will have an impact on the election. Several media outlets are alleging that his “evolution” was more of a response to gay donors and bundlers threatening to withhold contributions (and good for them for holding his feet to the fire). But, more importantly, we all knew this is what Obama really thought. His pretense at opposing gay marriage didn’t fool anyone. All it did was make his supporters miserable and harm attempts to implement marriage equality on the state level.
It does show a measure of political courage to say this. And it’s important to do so after yesterday’s shameful vote in North Carolina. However, that courage pales in comparison to the political courage of the handful of Republicans who have supported gay marriage. A Democrat who supports gay marriage faces few consequences. A Republican who does so faces primary challenges, accusations of RINOism, pillorying by NOM and other Religious right bastions and, sometimes, big losses in campaign support.
So good on Obama. But not, you know, that good on him.
28 comments
No ping yet
Starving Writer says:
May 10, 2012 5:58 am at 5:58 am (UTC -4)
I’ll just repost here what I put up on my Facebook last night:
Unless Obama grows a pair and actually spearheads an attempt to amend the US Constitution so that it’s illegal for all public institutions (not private) to ban gay marriages, it’s all just empty words. It’s no major civil rights landmark. You think that if Romney wins in November then anything Obama said today would have had changed anything?
Want a hint? See his position on the Gitmo prisoners, PATRIOT Act, and having bills up on a website for 3 days before being voted on.
Hal_10000 says:
May 10, 2012 8:32 am at 8:32 am (UTC -4)
Exactly. has he called for a repeal of DOMA or anything?
JimK says:
May 10, 2012 10:39 am at 10:39 am (UTC -4)
Re: the North Carolina thing. I’m reading in a couple of places that the actual item they were asked to vote for was at best confusing, and “many” (a scientific measurement to be sure) people voted against it because it was bad law. Or they just had no idea what it meant.
Apparently there is 55% or so support for flat-out gay marriage in the state, which was not reflected in this vote. Opinions?
Miguelito says:
May 10, 2012 2:29 pm at 2:29 pm (UTC -4)
(sigh) stupid firefox…
Wouldn’t that have led to it failing to pass though?
My take on CA props is usually: If in doubt, vote no. If you don’t understand a prop at all, you probably shouldn’t vote either way. Granted, if you don’t understand a lot of the stuff, you probably shouldn’t be voting at all.
AlexInCT says:
May 10, 2012 2:41 pm at 2:41 pm (UTC -4)
This is just a distraction and why I didn’t bother with it when I saw it. It’s meaningless campaign platitudes intended to fire up the base and give the left ammunition to go after the right with. It’s the whole Trayvon Martin/George Zimmerman racism, not wanting government to give free contraceptives to everyone means you are waging “War on women”, and “Did I tell you I killed Osama” nonsense by Obama being used by Team Blue to cover the news cycle for the next few weeks so the left doesn’t have to deal with calamitous economic and geopolitical news, other than to put out fluff pieces replete with bullshit that claims recovery is right around the corner and the bad guys are our friends, like they have been doing for the last 3 1/2 years.
Team Obama has everyone talking about this gay thing, and again avoids focus on the economy, Iran, the Euro collapse, and the fact that the DOJ has been turned into an enforcement arm of a criminal government. Look, the LSM is going to paint non-democrats in the worst possible light on this – and every other topic, for that matter – while giving offenders on their own side a “Get out of Jail Free – forever” card. Let’s not play their game. This revelation changes nothing. I doubt that there will be any action by Obama that affects this cause. Remember that he even covered his ass by saying this issue belonged to the states: something I found laughable considering Obama’s big nanny-stater bona fides.
Big yawn. Now let’s talk the deficit spending and Obamacare’s impact on our economic future. That’s what matters. Not if Adam and Steve or Alice and Eve can have a wedding ceremony and say they are married, considering they already get practically everything else anyway, albeit with some extra effort.
CM says:
May 10, 2012 4:39 pm at 4:39 pm (UTC -4)
Not really his style is it. Like with DADT, he seems to prefer a strategy of pushing and prodding from somewhere in the background. Presumably because he realises that actively leading it from the front can often do more harm than good on many of these sorts of hot-button issues.
I don’t think it provides Obama with any additional votes (or loses him any). However it may add some votes for Romney, from the extreme (anti-gay) right. Rather than stay home, it might make them hold their nose and vote for the guy.
That’s hilarious considering you’ve actively refused to get into ANY sort of detail in the other thread.
Seattle Outcast says:
May 10, 2012 7:53 pm at 7:53 pm (UTC -4)
Based on what? Your retarded copy/paste to links you don’t understand?
CM says:
May 10, 2012 9:56 pm at 9:56 pm (UTC -4)
Again, if it’s SO BLINDINGLY OBVIOUS, then surely someone can easily point out where my stupidity lies. But no, seems to be just another opportunity for mindless and pointless insults and unsupported claims.
Mississippi Yankee says:
May 10, 2012 10:30 pm at 10:30 pm (UTC -4)
Considering that blacks in general and christian blacks especially are against same-sex marriage are you saying Obama is not really black or not christian? Or maybe your fingers just got away from your brain.
Butt then your wrote:
Yeah, that whole”will of the people” thing we’ve discussed before when the NY politicians passed it by 1 vote…
Now the real kicker for me was JimK’s absolute WTF comment about the folks in NC not being smart enough to know what they were voting for. Out side of the fact that NC went for Oblamo in 2008.
JimK . Talk of this vote has been ‘bantered’ all around this state for several months. Exactly like the same sex vote was ‘bantered’ about in California two years ago.
Please provide a CM-like link… just for my sanity’s sake ’cause your halo tilted a bit for me today. (said only half jokingly)
The record still stand:
Every state that has put this up for a referendum vote said NO.
Every state that sent the vote to the state congress said YES.
And PLEASE Y’all spare me the “this a a republic” fucking civic lessons. It was lame the last time.
Of 32 states the record is like 21 – 9 and 2 civil union states. (my figures may be off by 1 but enough to be statistically significant.
Put marriages back in the religious sector and give all of the rest of us civil unions. But lets just stop fibbing to each other.
On a side note, How do you think Obama’s NEW position on the issue will ‘play-out’ at his big fund raiser over at George Clooney’s house this weekend? When in doubt Follow the Money.
CM says:
May 10, 2012 11:12 pm at 11:12 pm (UTC -4)
Hal:
Mississippi Yankee:
And you’re trying to claim that I’M retarded?!
LOL. That’s awesome.
U shore aint know roket surgin innit.
People are morons though remember – look at how the overwhelming majority of Americans think in terms of where the economic rewards of capitalism go (and stay)….
As you’ve never demonstrated anything wrong with any link I’ve ever provided, I assume this is a positive. Thanks for the compliment.
Anyway, yeah, this might be a little testing for some black voters.
http://ideas.time.com/2012/05/09/will-black-voters-punish-obama-for-his-support-of-gay-rights/
Kimpost says:
May 10, 2012 11:14 pm at 11:14 pm (UTC -4)
He’ll probably energize his base, which will lead to more donations. On the other hand, he might lose votes on his public support. Doesn’t seem like a sure winner to me.
I think it’s good all in all, even if it’s not huge.
Mississippi Yankee says:
May 10, 2012 11:54 pm at 11:54 pm (UTC -4)
CM,
I don’t believe I’ve ever called you retarded but go ahead and prove me wrong…
My using the word butt was my tasteless pun. intentional BTW, this is about “teh ghey”. But I do keep forgetting how “your kind” are born without a sense of humor. Must be sad to be a liberal.
You’re welcome, afterall SO compliments you almost daily on your prowess.
Hal
I don’t think he said what you think he said, Neither does ABC News:
This man pulled the wool over your eyes TWICE:
1) He voted present… again
2) He distracted you with something shiny
The economy sucks. People are out of work. Gas prices are still double what they were when this Oblamebush took office. Yeah. If I were he, I would like to change the subject and talk about gay marriage, especially when it makes the LSM swoon over how brave he is that his beliefs have evolved and he now kinda/ sorta supports gay marriage.
CM says:
May 11, 2012 12:05 am at 12:05 am (UTC -4)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/on-faith/north-carolina-approves-ban-on-same-sex-marriage/2012/05/09/gIQAdbDnDU_story.html
CM says:
May 11, 2012 12:12 am at 12:12 am (UTC -4)
Fuck. I apologise. Somehow I mixed your comments with Seattle Outcast’s waste-of-space meaningless-dribble above.
It WAS a non-sequitor though.
It’seems to be all he’s got. Unfortunately it’s never clever either, because it never actually contains anything of substance or detail. It’s 4th grade name-calling. He sure ain’t no Czar Chasm (among others). Ah well, hard to take it all seriously when it has no meaning, so whatever.
Mississippi Yankee says:
May 11, 2012 12:35 am at 12:35 am (UTC -4)
I would seem I’m not the only person who likes to lie to and mislead pollsters. I’m willing to bet some poll indicated Obumbler might get a lift in his numbers if he “flirted” with this issue. This entire administration strikes me as poll driven.
Let the pandering begin!
Seattle Outcast says:
May 11, 2012 12:58 am at 12:58 am (UTC -4)
See, that’s the problem with idiots – when you point out to them just how stupid they are, they double down on it and insist that they’re actually geniuses and it’s everyone else that’s too stupid to see just how smart they are.
You and your posts have been ripped to shreds repeatedly, so we’ve all graduated to calling you names in hopes you’ll go troll some other site.
balthazar says:
May 11, 2012 9:32 am at 9:32 am (UTC -4)
So to summarize, Obama is evolving his position on this right?
He was for GM way back when he ran for state office, then against it running for the Senate, now he is for it again trying to deflect from the issues that are bending him over the table and assfucking him.
Got it, if it was Romney “evolving” his position he would be called a flip flopper, but since its the Messiah, he is “evolving”.
Oh and BTW BHO is totally dissing the black vote with this, because he knows they will vote for him anyway regardless of this stance on GM.
Poosh says:
May 11, 2012 10:03 am at 10:03 am (UTC -4)
I call bullshit
It’s MASSIVE assumption to make that Obama supports gay marriage, given his upbringing but even so I cannot believe people are so easily tossed around like a broken puppet. He opposed it, but magically supports it when it’s politically expedient (in contrast to Romney who changed his views when it was not expedient). This is a cakewalk style trap the Democrats are laying out for the Republicans. They’re trying to create as many social-related smears as possible.
Don’t get drawn into it (like Obama dodged the issue in 2008). He’s playing EVERYONE.
“I don’t see what gay-marriage has to do with the economy” should be sent as a memo/talking point to every GOP person out there. This is such obvious bullshit from Obama but then again I bet some Republicans will walk straight into it and get drenched.
AlexInCT says:
May 11, 2012 4:27 pm at 4:27 pm (UTC -4)
And they are getting professional training on how to do it too.
CM says:
May 12, 2012 5:36 am at 5:36 am (UTC -4)
I’m no genius and have never claimed to be. I’m of average intelligence.
But anyway, that’s just more distraction. Please feel free to address the substance if you feel inclined (in a weak moment or whatever).
Diddums.
I certainly don’t feel that I’ve ever been ‘ripped to shreds’ here, at all. I cannot remember a single time. If you can point one out, please do.
Perhaps getting laid might help your intense anger/frustration/desperate need to feel you’ve ripped a liberal to shreds to the point where you believe it’s actually happened issues? Just a thought.
CM says:
May 12, 2012 5:40 am at 5:40 am (UTC -4)
I think Obama should be made to marry a man now.
Specifically what about his upbringing?
On gay marriage?
Poosh says:
May 12, 2012 1:32 pm at 1:32 pm (UTC -4)
OH NO HE DIDN’T *clicks fingers around*
Mississippi Yankee says:
May 12, 2012 7:34 pm at 7:34 pm (UTC -4)
When a democrat changes his opinion it is said ‘they evolved’
When a republican changes their opinion they are ‘flip-floppers’
So does Poosh’s link show that Obama evolved…devolved, and then re-evolved again?
Or has he always just said and done exactly as he’s been told to do? Polls, the Golden Calf at the DNC headquarters.
Poosh says:
May 12, 2012 9:53 pm at 9:53 pm (UTC -4)
I can’t believe people are buying this bullshit and I can’t believe Obama is actually doing it! You can LITERALLY drag up videos and articles in mere seconds – in his own words – showing he’s full of shit! This is insane!
Have you seen those pro-homo/pro-Obama t-shirts Obama’s stormtroopers are chugging out!!!! (What a weird culture thing, in the UK no one would dream of wearing a political-party t-shirt ha ha).
…then again, Obama should not be underestimated.
Romney’s meme should be “fight the culture war on your own time. America’s economy has almost run OUT of time.”
CM says:
May 17, 2012 9:25 pm at 9:25 pm (UTC -4)
New poll out of North Carolina.
http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/main/2012/05/movement-among-black-north-carolinians-on-gay-marriage.html
Mississippi Yankee says:
May 17, 2012 9:53 pm at 9:53 pm (UTC -4)
NPR: Public Policy Polling was profiled by NPR as “one of the most prolific polling outfits in the country.” now there’s a non-basis source CM.
If some people can believe that the people in NC are too stoopid to vote correctly I can contend they are also too stoopid to take a poll.
Prove me wrong.
CM says:
May 17, 2012 10:05 pm at 10:05 pm (UTC -4)
They poll a lot, therefore they are biased (I assume that’s what you meant)? How does that logic work? You also missed the bit below that:
I don’t see how it would be possible for me to prove you wrong on that. Fortunately, I don’t need to, because it’s your narrative.
Mississippi Yankee says:
May 17, 2012 10:47 pm at 10:47 pm (UTC -4)
I see you’re branching out with your dancing lessons (my narrative?). Are you and lil ABBA in any contests we should know about?
Perhaps you’ve missed the simple fact that people love to a)lie to pollsters,b) skew polls for their own ends, c) the the wildly held belief that pollsters have an agenda and word their questions thus-ly.