"President Obama Affirms His Support for Gay Marriage"
by Rick Klein
"President Obama today announced that he now supports same-sex marriage, reversing his longstanding "evolving" position, amid growing pressure from the Democratic base and even his own vice president and two cabinet members.
"In an interview with ABC News’ Robin Roberts, the president described his thought process as an “evolution” that led him to this place, based on conversations with his own staff members, openly gay and lesbian service members, and conversations with his wife and own daughters."I have to tell you that over the course of several years as I have talked to friends and family and neighbors when I think about members of my own staff who are in incredibly committed monogamous relationships, same-sex relationships, who are raising kids together, when I think about those soldiers or airmen or marines or sailors who are out there fighting on my behalf and yet feel constrained, even now that Don't Ask Don't Tell is gone, because they are not able to commit themselves in a marriage, at a certain point I’ve just concluded that for me personally it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same sex couples should be able to get married". . ."The president stressed that this is a personal position, and that he still supports the concept of states deciding the issue on their own. But he said he’s confident that more Americans will grow comfortable with gays and lesbians getting married, citing his own daughters’ comfort with the concept."
Well, it's been a long-time "evolving," but it's good to hear it at last. This is historic. To have a president of the United States publicly endorse same-sex marriage in the midst of a re-election campaign is remarkable -- and indicative of how much times have changed.
It has seemed obvious for some time that he would support it, but that he was held back by political considerations. But I believe -- and his campaign must now agree -- that people who are going to vote against him because of taking this position would be voting against him anyway. And this will create a lot of good will and enthusiasm among the progressive and the gay voters.
Why didn't he do it before North Carolina voted yesterday on a constitutional amendment? Probably they calculated it wouldn't make enough difference to change the vote -- and now it can help obliterate the bad news rather than having the impact of his endorsement overshadowed by the negative vote.
Whatever . . . . It's good to have his support.
Ralph
Insiders have said that Obama had come to his personal decision to support gay marriage early in 2012, and he was planning to make it known some time before the convention. They also insist that Biden's spontaneous support expressed on a Sunday TV show sped the process, but that it was not planned this way.
ReplyDeleteThey mention two factors that helped Obama come to his final position of support: (1) he attended a fundraiser in New York (was this the one arranged by the gay Facebook co-founder and his political activist partner who have become big fundraisers in the gay community and I believe hosted one for Obama a while back?). Anyway, being in New York led him to think about the recent New York legislature's vote legalizing it, and he thought about how he would have voted and realized he would have voted to support it.
And (2) his daughters have friends from school with same-sex parents, and he realizes that they simply cannot understand why these friends' parents would be treated differently. In discussing this around the dinner table, he couldn't either.
I really believe that worrying about a negative political effect from this is simply wrong. This is going to have a positive effect for Obama. A new poll announced on ABC along with Obama's interview show 54% now support legalizing same-sex marriage.
ReplyDeleteClips of Romney repeating his opposition sound out of touch -- and he was very careful to treat it gingerly, acknowledging that people differ and that this is his view.
I repeat my point: those who will be turned against Obama because of this would not vote for him anyway -- at least most of those. There will of course be a few individuals. But they will be more than offset by the numbers who will make the effort to go to vote for Obama because of this who might have sat home instead.
And it may help energize the young voters who were so important to him in 2008 and who have not yet caught fire for him in the same way this time. In this same poll, some 60+% of those under 24 support gay marriage.
Of course the important reason for doing it is his personal belief, cosidered obviously over some time. The political implications are merely secondary -- albeit important for a president seeking re-election.
ReplyDeleteI'm just saying that I think it will help, rather than hurt, him politically -- partly because people will believe that it is a principled decision. It would not be generally thought to be done for political purposes.
However, never underestimate the Republicans special vision that allows them to see political intent in everything he does. The only thing so far they've come up with is that he's using it as a distraction to take the focus off his "failed" economic policies.'
Bah, humbug, you guys. That's bullshit.
Meanwhile, yesterday North Carolina passed a state constitutional amendment banning not only gay marriage but civil unions as well.
ReplyDeleteThis will hurt N.C. in attracting corporation as well as scientists for their universities and research foundations.
If Obama was merely looking for a distraction, why would he choose this?