In the wake of the Prop 8 ruling, I completely agree with what Greg Sargent surmises:
President Obama's stance against gay marriage is no longer tenable, socially, legally or politically. First, the White House still opposes gay marriage:
This morning, senior White House adviser David Axelrod struggled to defend this position. Here's what he said:
"The president opposed Proposition 8 at the time. He felt that it was divisive. He felt that it was mean-spirited, and he opposed it at the time. So we reiterated that position yesterday. The president does oppose same-sex marriage, but he supports equality for gay and lesbian couples, and benefits and other issues, and that has been effectuated in federal agencies under his control. He's supports civil unions, and that's been his position throughout. So nothing has changed."
But as John Aravosis says, everything has changed.
I still cannot fathom the mind-numbing despair that hearing "separate but equal" coming out of a Democratic administration is. It is, as I said, not longer tenable. Greg continues as to why:
The problem for the White House is that the Prop 8 decision will force this issue onto full boil nationally, just as the Arizona law did with illegal immigration. And heading into his 2012 reelection campaign, the gay and lesbian community -- an important Dem constituency -- will be demanding full support for gay marriage, and a repeal of DOMA.
They'll be demanding complete consistency, and won't want to be lectured about what is and isn't possible amid some arbitrarily defined "political reality."
Obama either has to back up his party on this or face being on the wrong side of history. And history will not be kind to him unless he changes his tune soon.
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2 comments:
It's funny, you'd think he'd completely understand the position, especially since many of the same arguments against gay marriage were used against mixed-race marriage.
Depressing.
Meh, my guess was always that he took the civil-union position because it felt like a safe, tepid position for campaign time, and a way to buff his centrist credentials. Doesn't make it right, of course, but I've been watching Donks take safe, tepid positions on culture war issues my whole life, and this is what it smelled like.
Anyway, this is one of those rare times and issues where I'm happy to watch the President twist. Fits into what I've been thinking: the whole Red State Culture Warrior Army is already coming to the polls, and voting Republican in 2010. This ain't giving them much, if any, additional wind. If the Donks are stuck doing the right thing, it might work as GOTV for us, and we desperately need that.
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