I don’t know that they’re the least homophobic, but there was an immediate and noticeable shift.
They are pragmatically softening their opposition fast by any means possible. What? Gay marriage? Look, here’s a shiny object over here! I’m guessing Rand Paul thinks gay people are just great, and the marketplace will take care of any discrimination just like it always does.
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Oh, FFS. Everyone with half a brain and eyes to see knew Biden made that statement as part of a coordinated media strategy. It’s White House Communications 101. Biden has been the designated loose cannon hip shooter for this administration since he was picked. The fact that he was made for the role is what made it convincing, but time and again, he’s been the guy who launched the last trial balloon before a policy shift was made official. You’ll notice that, time and again, when there have been areas of genuine disagreement between him and Obama, like over the Afghanistan escalation, not a word has he said about it in public.
Obama spoke about gay rights in a way no party nominee had ever spoken about them before. As president, he knocked down the legal barriers to gay equality one by one and, the whole time, his actions and his rhetoric stayed about six months out ahead of public opinion until, finally, the scales tipped and by the time he finally came out for gay marriage, it looked like he’d fallen behind public opinion.
That’s how presidential leadership works in the real world. It was the most adroitly managed long term shift in national policy and opinion of his entire administration. He didn’t cause the change, but he accelerated the shift in thinking way faster than anyone in 2007 could possibly have imagined.
Magical thinkers who subscribe to the Green Lantern theory of presidential power can’t see real leadership happening before their eyes, in real time–can’t see it, won’t acknowledge it because it undermines their entire belief system about how power ought to work.
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This! If he had to pretend he was against it to win the election against McCain I’m fine with that. I think it was obvious he wasn’t going to sign any anti-gay laws or push for any anti-gay legislation back in 2008. If he said he was for gay marriage and lost the election we’d be in a far worse position with President McCain and VP Palin.
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Biden’s statement cushioned the field for the President’s statement. The momentum was already established by those that had already strived to get the issue heard in lower courts.
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Yes, I seriously doubt President John McCain would of signed the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Repeal Act of 2010 into law.
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From the polling data I’ve seen, we are.
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…and he got the job and rest is history.
Oddly, I always found that claim credible. Everyone who smoked in college knew that one guy–invariably a person unacquainted with tobacco–who took one too-large toke of weed that was unusually harsh, had their throat close up on them and then choked and wheezed and coughed to the point of being afraid and swore never to do it again.
Those people were always hilarious when you witnessed it, but, in hindsight, I’ve wondered how many of them were actually having a potentially dangerous respiratory reaction.
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“I’m just not very good at bullshitting” pretty much answers the question,“why doesn’t Obama reach out to Congress more?”
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Why do you believe the Veep “forced” Obama to come out in favor? Isn’t it possible the entire episode was staged, e.g., “Joe, you come out in favor of gay marriage and I’ll come in and agree with you.”
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Around my then hometown, the preacher ranting about “the down low” was, himself, on the down low.
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That may have been possible. But the point still remains, the president coming out in favor isn’t the reason for the progress.
LMAO There’s been a whole lot of that over the last decade or so, and it never ceases to crack me up.
That wasn’t the only issue he bs’d on in the 2008 primaries.
Can’t concentrate. Plus Kenyan.
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That and the lack of Congressional opposable thumbs…
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So long as you acknowledge that “drop the facade” means “stop lying.”
Fuck you, Axelrod.
IKR? If only he’d used his magic Green Lantern ring and made people support gay marriage two or three years sooner instead of helping to bring people around to his view by publicly acting out a struggle that tens of millions Americans were actually going through as they worked their way up to the most revolutionary transformation of public opinion on an issue affecting mores and values in half a century.
Damn him. Damn him all to hell. How can you ever trust him again?
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