Barack Obama has chosen quite a moment to realize that marriage is a basic civil right. Just as a kangaroo court is in session in the dungeon he promised to close, just as young voters are feeling less than enthused about his re-election, just as less than stellar job numbers have independent voters looking right, and just as members of the left who elected him in 2008 wonder why Bush-era tax cuts are still in place, Obama has come to the conclusion that civil unions are an insulting half-measure. How convenient.
Only fools will believe the conversion narrative of his campaign e-mail:
I was reluctant to use the term marriage because of the very powerful traditions it evokes. And I thought civil union laws that conferred legal rights upon gay and lesbian couples were a solution. But over the course of several years I've talked to friends and family about this. I've thought about members of my staff in long-term, committed, same-sex relationships who are raising kids together ... What I've come to realize is that for loving, same-sex couples, the denial of marriage equality means that, in their eyes and the eyes of their children, they are still considered less than full citizens.
Adam Serwer is thus exactly right to point out that Obama's official attitude has not changed much at all. This expression of his personal views has not altered his position that the issue should be left to the states, no matter how benighted those states may be. To this point Serwer adds the observation that Obama's much-touted recognition of marriage rights differs little from that of Dick Cheney, a politician whose progressivism we may be forgiven for doubting.
The counter-argument is that Obama is taking a politically risky move in making this announcement, particularly in swing states like North Carolina. I disagree. First, as Nate Silver shows, the risks are not so great in that prevailing public opinion is coming more and more to accept marriage rights for gays and lesbians. Second, if there were political risk involved, why would Obama initially have planned to announce his conversion at the Democratic Convention? Precisely because his statement has the character of all statements at a party convention: it is a flashy, and fundamentally empty, attempt to rally the base.
And after four years of uninspiring centrism, Obama does need to re-brand himself as a candidate progressives should be excited about. He is engaging in precisely the kind of cheap cultural politics that Democrats despise in Republicans: he is placing himself on the progressive side of a hotly contested cultural issue and baiting his opponents into spewing anti-gay bigotry, which bait they will take only too eagerly. He has yet to commit to any sort of action on advancing the marriage rights of gays and lesbians. Instead he is showing that he is still incapable of a firm stance on this matter, though willing to exploit it for short-term political gains.
Cross-posted from Dissent Magazine
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Obama 2012!
I wouldn't care to focus on exactly what the president's personal feelings are on the matter because at least he publicly acknowledged it, it's on public record for the world to see, it's a start (REPEAT: IT'S A START) in the right direction where there's hopefully no way of going back, and move forward into the fight for civil rights of the LGBT community. I would think that this would be the first and most important thing rather than sitting back dwelling on someone's personal thoughts. You can't change people's mindset right off the bat. You've got to educate, then progress. But if FeisaI Mohamed is so furious with President Obama, then he should vote for DOMA fan Romney and see how far the rights of the LGBT community will get.
For goodness sake, take this foot-in-the-door moment, sling back that door and bust the rest of them down on your way forward.
I have posted this previously, but it reminds me of the whiners who voted for Nader in 2000 because they didn't think Gore was liberal enough. You gave us Bush! Great job.
We are all armature psycho analysts?
Who can predict what pres Obama will cynically do next?
Obama may be confused about whether gay people should have the 'political Right' to marry ... that's understandable because 'marriage' means different things in different cultures and religions as you should know.
However, I do not believe our President is confused that we are all One Humanity ... for goodness sake he is the product of that Truth. And I believe he also understands and lives the other Truth ... we are all born equal and the vulnerability of our nakedness.