Maybe Obama’s shift on gay marriage was about more than money. On our Facebook page, our reader Chad wondered if President Obama “decided to come out in favor of SSM now because he knows it’s more popular than he is.” He’s got a point.
Today’s Gallup tracking point shows the president’s approval has edged up to 48:
And the latest Gallup poll shows 50% of Americans think gay marriages should be recognized as valid by the law:
Latter poll via Washington Examiner.
In the mid-90s, I did a lot of volunteering with AIDS-related organizations. I got my “gay news” (progress and setbacks in the US and worldly pertaining to injustices that had to be brought to people’s attention if anything was going to change) from free weeklies that focused on such things because no one else would report it. I can remember when marriage equality wasn’t even a consideration for most people. “civil unions were going to be as good as it possibly could get, even though no law existed at the time (Hawaii flirted with it), but even that notion was like pulling teeth for most. It’s amazing how far we’ve come in a short amount of time. And despite the impetus, it’s outstanding that we have a president who said two people of the same gender should be able to get married. They are words and not actions. But, often, certain words from the right person can mean a great deal for society. And while there are serious issues at hand that still require a great deal of attention and problem solving, I’d rather that we have a sitting president who is on record as saying two people of the same gender should be able to get married, rather than having not said. Just a preference.
I welcome mitt Romney–the first governor to preside over a state permanently legalizing same sex marriage–to even the playing field and do the same.
… Because if Obama’s choice was based on money, votes, and shoring up his base, and Romney is a more reputable man, then such things won’t cloud up his convictions and he will come out for marriage equality, as I believe Romney supports it.
And as some here have attested, it’s more significant for a republican to come out for marriage equality than it is for a democrat.
So, please, Romney, because so many on here believe you are a more reputable man than Obama, prove it by revealing what is in your heart (I.e. support for gay marriage), because god forbid you should wait until 75% of independents support it and it becomes a matter of political expediency.
🙂 I was mostly being tongue-in-cheek, but then again, I think it does make sense for Obama to grab on to an issue that would have probably been more of a liability for him four years ago. In 2008, he was best off avoiding social issues. It’s not that one side has an obvious upper hand. The popularity of issues like SSM and abortion rights is, I think, a lot murkier than activists on either side are usually willing to admit, but I do think that social issues are not important to people relative to other issues, especially swing voters. And Obama and his aides surely know this, which is why they wisely downplayed social issues in 2008. And they know that still, but the important issues—jobs, the economy, and the debt, aren’t going to work for them, so they have to find something else to latch on to. Some people will be confident that support for SSM will help Obama, others that it will hurt Obama, but I’ll admit that I just don’t know. Perhaps it will lose him votes in some critical swing states where traditional blue-collar workers will turn against him and conservative African-Americans and Latinos decide they can’t vote for him. Perhaps it will give him a net gain of votes by giving young voters a reason to rally to him again. In any case, it all fits in with the larger pattern of Obama trying to change the issue from the economy.
My instinct tells me it will be a slight net win, but very marginal. But this is politics and it could all change. But, The more I think about it, though, the shrewder it seems to be.
LOL…..that’s comparing oranges and apples. Just gets under your skin like a chigger. You can blather on as much as you want against Obama in the many posts about him the last few days, but the fact is that President Obama has gone on record as the first president of the United States to support gay marriage.
That is a joyful headline! On 2 counts 🙂