Yesterday, news "broke" that President Barrack Obama supports the legalization of homosexual marriages.
Not surprisingly, the Conservative rhetoric is that he's declared way on marriage and all that nonsense. Whatever.
Anyways, this is significant because to my knowledge, he is the first sitting president to publicly espouse this view. For those supporting gay marriage legalization, this is a big deal. To those who oppose it, this is a big deal. It may be a watershed moment, for good or ill.
I don't think that President Obama can lose this next election short of a dead hooker in the Lincoln bed room. I just don't see it. Mitt Romney is not a threat.
In short, he COULD blow the election, but Romney can't just win it. No one likes him enough. And the dislike for Obama isn't big enough yet.
So what the president could have done, and indeed what I thought he would have done, would be to sit tight. I think anyone who follows politics knows Obama has probably felt this way for years, but he could have continued to pretend otherwise, not announce much of anything between now and November, coast into his lame duck session and then get to town on all his real agenda with little consequence.
Instead, he spoke yesterday.
I don't believe that elevating homosexual unions to the same level as a marriage will be good for this nation, yet I have almost zero evidence to back that up. Since all I'm going on is my morality (and moreover because this matter involves consenting adults entering into legal contracts) I have no official opposition.
In short, I'm not a fan of this growing movement.
But I am a fan of people being intellectually honest, even if it's belated. And President Obama coming out (no pun intended) with this now, is intellectually honest.
This is an issue he believes in. North Carolina just did their thing, and to him, it was important to speak now. He could have waited in the wings until his inevitable re-election, then come out with this. Instead he did it now.
He's telling the voters who he is now, before they decide whether or not to vote for him. It's a sad world wherein that sort of thing merits a kudos, but it does.
I don't think we're going down a good road, but I give the president props for honestly telling us where he intends to lead should we vote for him again.
It probably doesn't come as a surprise to anyone. I doubt he'd try to use Federal power to force the issue, though.
ReplyDeletePublic opinion is steadily turning at a nationwide rate of about +5% a year. States will likely work it out themselves in the next 10-20 years.