On the day after the Troglodyte vote swamped North Carolina, President Obama has come out (ah hem) in favor of marriage equality.
The Mahablog
Politics. Society. Group Therapy.
On the day after the Troglodyte vote swamped North Carolina, President Obama has come out (ah hem) in favor of marriage equality.
It raise the stakes and makes the race to 270 harder to call at this time. It ALSO makes Mittens look more like a bean-counting, heartless, milquetoast than he already does.
I think what’s important to note about that vote: It was on a primary ballot.
If this were a national election the results may well have been different, if not at the very least, much closer.
On an up note, if the majority of votes counted were Republicans who took the time to do so, that’s maybe 40 percent, or at least a large percentage of that 40, who may be persuaded to vote for Obama.
Obama just lost some of the Evangelical vote that he never had.
I wonder how Michelle Bachman is taking the news?
Thank you, President Obama. I couldn’t be more proud. To hell with the people who are squawking about timing; you did what’s right for the country. Gay rights are human rights.
Good for you!
I’m going to play Cassandra again 🙁 I totally approve of the policy, but I am very worried about the politics. This will energize the *other* base like almost nothing else. It will gain Obama mostly votes in states he would win anyway, and cost him in states he might have won otherwise.
“I wonder how Michelle Bachman is taking the news?”
Well, Marcus was sure as sh*t HAPPY!
He ws a smilin’, and a dancin’, and a shuckin’, and a prancin’, and a jivin’, and a mincin’, and a smilin’, and a lookin’ for another for another man to share his tears, and joy, his spit, and his sper… Well, you get the idea!
YAY! President Obama!!!
James E. – I understand your comment about political demographics but I disagree.
The Romney strategy is to keep the narrative on the economy, and play the victim, the poor rich kid who has the wisdom to save us, except for the evil liberals out to destroy him. Any time that Obama can derail the narrative to social issues, Romney will lose votes from the middle.
At this point, Romney has to declare a position on equal rights for Gays or declare for something less. He can’t win either way, and that’s exactly where the Obama camp wants to keep the discussion – on issues where the position Romney must declare to satisfy his base is significantly out of the mainstream.
On a social issue that is a wash – Romney doesn’t lose votes and Obama does not gain, it’s a win for Obama if the Romney narrative is derailed. The economy is going to sluggishly improve between now and November. To beat Romney, Obama has to broaden the array of issues for the voter to consider beyond the most recent jobs numbers. .
I e-mailed the President at whitehouse.gov today, thanking him for his position.
Romney has already made his position quite clear. No civil marriage rights for gay Americans. F*** him and the horse he rode in on.
How does Romney lose by saying he opposes gay rights—which has been his position all along?
I agree with Doug. For the most part, this issue is a wash. Yes, it might crank up the Right, but it could equally crank up the Left.
How many states have held votes on this issue, and what has been the track record of those votes? IIRC, something like 30+ states have voted, and all but one of them voted marriage equality down.
Well, I really am getting tired of living in the South. In rural areas like where I live we were pretty much swamped with “Holy Matrimony” signs.
I always tell people there are two kinds of marriage. There is a sacred union or spiritual marriage and and the legal contract that accompanies it. A vote like this can deny gay people the legal contract, but no vote can deny them the sacred union because that is between the couple in the union. Also, gay people if they want to be part of a spiritual community will find one that does recognize their spiritual marriage, the law cannot touch that.
If you saw the vid of Mitt questioned by the gay army veteran, you saw him at his typical dull witted, gutless response. He blurted out, “I am sure the founding fathers didn’t have gay marriage in mind when they wrote the constitution.” Then he beat a hasty retreat.
So, if we apply that to the First and Second Amendments, the right to bear arms would allow us to have flintlocks and the freedom to practice religion wouldn’t apply to later day developments like Mormonism, for example.
“I am sure the founding fathers didn’t have gay marriage in mind when they wrote the constitution.â€
Ah,the old founding father’s dodge..when in doubt, pull it out. I bet they didn’t entertain the notion of a black President either. I can be 100% sure that the founding fathers didn’t have school shootings/mass murders/ going postal/ McDonald’s shootings in mind when they wrote the second amendment.
I am amazed and disappointed that we here in NC can be liberal enough to let the troglodytes vote and then bigoted enough to refuse gay marriage rights and top it off with banishing civil unions and domestic partnerships for gay and straight couples in a hidden, unpublicized part of the amendment.
On the same note, the Rethuglican leadership here has admitted that the first court challenge will probably be the end of some if not all aspects of this amendment, and that generational change is working against this heartless action.
James – Romney is hurt when the ‘Whole Picture’ is out there. Romney wants to control how voters picture him by controlling the narrative to ONE issue – the economy. There is no magic bullet between now and November for the economy, so democrats need to broaden the debate to a variety of issues where Romney will either flip from a previous stance he held in the primaries – or paint himself into a corner with independents by holding an extreme position.
On this issue here’s the most recent polling information. I emphasized the number for independents, because they will decide the 2012 election.
“Half of all Americans backed gay marriage in the 2012 Gallup’s 2012 gay marriage poll, released Tuesday. Democrats and independents drove the increase, with 65 percent of Democrats backing the practice and 57 percent of independents throwing their support behind it. ”
http://www.politico.com/politico44/2012/05/polls-show-a-mixed-picture-for-legalizing-gay-marriage-122984.html
At worst, this is an electoral wash for Obama – but every time Obama takes the mike and cameras away from Romney – and then in the next news cycle Romney has to defend a generally unpopular conservative issue – Obama wins.
Doug, what concerns me is the way this will energize the GOP base. They are not happy w/ Mittens, but now there is no way in hell that they won’t turn out in droves for him. The potential for getting some young indies is nice, but I fear the fundies will out-number them. North Carolina was a state Obama carried in 08, but if last night’s vote is any indication, he doesn’t have much chance at it now. We shall see—I certainly hope I am wrong.
Essentially gay marriage is not going to have any significant impact on any one’s life–even those against it. Gay marriage is not going to raise my rent or lower it. It is not going to raise the price of a loaf of bread or lower it. It is not going to make things more or less available; e.g., a reservation at a restaurant, the brand of blue jeans I wear, etc. It seems to me to be the most “impactless” (probably not a word) issue around. But, Republicans only know how to waste time and create as much negativity as possible in this world; thus, I feel confident that much time and energy will be wasted by a lot of people. But, not by me. Today, the only thing of significance that happened was the death of Vidal Sassoon. A man I greatly admired for many things but mostly because he literally changed my life with a hairstyle.
In all fairness to Obama, who finally “came out” on gay marriage (and who said he was FOR gay marriage when he was an IL State Senator), over the past 20 years, Mitt’s taken EVERY position possible on the issue of Gays.
He’s been on top of them, on the bottom – practically kneeled to them when running against Ted Kennedy.
Now, he’s trying to avoid his former positions, and is reaching around them – to stroke the Evangelicals.
On a more serious note, while Obama’s position has evolved, Mitt’s has devolved.
Still, there’s plenty of video evidence of his former positions.
If I had a D Super PAC, I’d run an ad showing video of Mitt’s different positions on gay rights.
And, at the end, have one of those guys with the deep, stentorian voices, say:
“On the one hand, in the 90’s, Mitt said he was adamantly FOR gay rights.
One the other hand, Mitt NOW says he’s AGAINST gay rights.
So, Mitt was for gay rights before he was against gay rights?
When you reach out your hand to pull the lever for him, are you sure which Mitt you’re voting for? On ANY position? How can you really be sure?
This ad has been pair for by the ‘Mitt Has More Positions Than a Hooker on an Around-the-world Tour Super PAC.'”
Here’s Tom Robinson singing, “Singing If You’re Glad to be Gay.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHG2LJGfEdw
Sadly, it’s NOT a happy song – STILL!
Ok here is what I see. First , if you are gay My state of Iowa welcomes you to come live here. We may have our heads stuck in a cornfield but three of our judges gave their jobs to become hero’s and allow gay marriage in our state. Bravo to them.
Here is what happened as a result of the judges courage. The GOP was all but disarmed of a wedge issue. Now sure we have the nut jobs like steve king(ugh) and my former boss kent sorenson who run in the small farm towns on the idea electing them might somehow lead to a repel..but when people like bachman and mr “man dog love” come here talking their spew about the evils of letting the LGBT community marry ..well it has no bang. It falls on deaf ears.Even in their own right wing circles it isnt a big cheer getter. People who are against it are not taking to the streets demanding change. They have seen , since gay folks started getting married here that is has had no effect on their right wing lives and they have adjusted to life where this is possible for others. If anything I think it HAS effected them without even being aware of it. We have people coming here to marry which ads tourist dollars to a state that would otherwise have none and the gay folks who have come to live here have added money to our economy- win win for the residents of Iowa.
The folks that want this gay marriage thing to go away? Well they never speak about it in public. It is said in hushed tones in back rooms – a good indication they know they are WRONG. With that said the political climate can change fast here. If the gop held power in both our house and senate they would try to end the right for gays to marry because when they are in power they push the bar as far to the right as they can- it’s just what they do here.So while I am hopeful this will always be a none issue here I am not fool enough to believe our current climate is the end all.
I see this trend in several states to “ban” gay marriage by law and I think to myself ” boy it must be nice to have ALL the economy problems and all your states issues in such good shape that they have time to focus their attention on the gay marriage issue” Have we solved all of the real problems and issues our states face and no one sent me a memo? In the middle of a economic crisis THIS is what they want to focus on? Shouldnt they be, you know, maybe doing what they are suppose to be elected to do? I think the people should have the right to demand the paychecks back of those who wasted the tax payers money, at a time of crisis. That they are working on this instead of ways to restore the economy in their own state is an outrage.How much of the peoples time did they steal?
Slowly something even more intersting is happening.And mind you I said SLOW..As our communities see more Stable happy gay couples straight people
are more exposed to them in jobs, at the kids game,as neighbors, and then things change. They find out they are the same, want the same things, have the same hopes and dreams and the hate that comes from fear of the unknown or from in bred homophobia melts away. Having been in Iowa a decade(ugh) I can feel the change. Once people here meet someone who is gay it changes how they feel.
I wish for this change to sweep the nation.. but so far(point to NC).
Enter President Obama.. Boy am I proud of him on this issue finally. Moderate votes are not social cons they tend to think of themselves as fiscial cons. Their vote wont be affected by this issue. Those on the left say” it’s about time” and the right wing who hate the idea of two guys getting married – well a lot of them cant read a ballot or afford the gas to get to the voting booth and the rest of the nut jobs (you know who you are little lulu) they wouldnt vote for Obama if he had went and got bin laden by himself armed only with a tampon and a stick of chewing gum. They wouldnt vote for him ever because he is , you know, dark. One of “those ” people(enter eye roll here). So I cant see how this was not the right thing to do from a election stand point. I think the states with the voters who would actually go out and vote against Obama over this issue are states he wont win anyhow.
How does mittens lose by coming out against it? He does so with moderate voters because they tend to be socially less moderate. They will think” Really? This is what you have in mind during a fiscal crisis? They want someone to show them a plan to fix the $$ crisis bottom line. They want to see a map towards the road to recovery from the Government , not the Gop’s threat to turn hoses on gay people in their bedrooms whilst denying their civil rights.Hmmm vote for someone who has a direction to fix things or someone who will spend the peoples time making sure gay people cant marry..seems like a easy choice for moderates.Win Obama.
Bonnie – loved your post – you are so sensible! And Vidal Sassoon had a big impact on my hairstyle, as well 🙂
I can understand the argument that Obama taking this position will rile up the right-wingers who were feeling lukewarm about Mitt and might have just stayed home in November. But I think that assumes that the GOP wouldn’t have ginned up something else to rile up their base, whether or not Obama did the right thing. And we know that the GOP doesn’t even need real things to point to in order to rile them up, since they are low-information voters prone to paranoia. Last time around they were all freaking out about FEMA camps, and making guns illegal. The GOP will get them to the polls, and get their votes, no matter what Obama does. He’s already the anti-Christ.
Meanwhile, Obama come across to the non-loony segment of the population as someone who, like many of them, has had some difficulty getting his head wrapped around the idea, but in the end sees it’s something that just makes sense, and as a person who thinks about other people, not a Mitt-bot who doesn’t really care about anything but getting elected.