Pretty big news here. Barack Obama has finally decided to do the right thing by standing up for marriage equality directly. While it took long enough, he now has the distinction of being the first President in the history of the U.S. to do so. This is also another reminder that politicians don’t lead, they follow. You lead. So keep up the good work!
Getting ready for my KPFK/Pacifica Show today, so no time for more commentary at the moment. Here’s ABC, who broke the news within the hour. Here’s TPM’s take. And here’s the video clip of the President this afternoon acknowledging: “I’ve just concluded that for me personally it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same sex couples should be able to get married”…
The key section from ABC’s transcript…
Rights will always win. It takes time. But they will always, eventually win.
“Rights will always win. It takes time. But they will always, eventually win.”
Obama’s latest political expediency does NOT provide any rights to anyone, but he has nullified many important rights recently that are far more important, IMO, than marriage equality. Then too, of course, there’s the right of Syrians to determine their own national course without being invaded by terrorists supported by the US/NATO, a policy made by Obama.
Or Joe Biden leads.
what a pussy. He should have done this three years ago, before he rolled over to big pharma and gave ten more years of our treasury to Afghan bandits.
The President took a political courageous stand by expressing his commitment to equality for all Americans. The NC “popular” decision to ban same sex marriage is appalling in that the majority can deny the rights of any American. Our constitution is not necessarily a protection of the majority, but rather, a protection of the minority. The spirit of the Constitution is to expand the rights of all citizens not to remove them. The last state Constitutional amendment in NC outlawed interracial marriage – bigotry lives and the last bastion of it is in the churches.
Obama’s stance ranks with Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation and the Kennedy/Johnson Civil Rights bill. I am amazed that only four Bradbloggers have commented on this before me. This much apathy in an important national election year is disturbing.
“Rights will always win. It takes time. But they will always, eventually win.”
If he thought it was a right, why is his position now that the states ought to decide? He jumped of the fence, and jumped right up on another. This is a distraction for a desperate President who needs something to fire up his base. And it has the potential to fail him miserably.
I bet barry hates friggin Biden right now lol!
Re #5: We aren’t apathetic, we just aren’t buying the hyperbole and comparisons to the Emancipation Proclamation. Listen to what he said carefully and you’ll notice he simply endorsed the pre-Emancipation Proclamation “states rights” approach. It was a nice gesture that will do little to change the lives of gays on a state level.
Wingnut Steve @ 6 said:
No quibble with anything in the above, other than the silly assertion that he is “desperate”. Even you dispute that baseless assertion in your closing line when you say “I bet barry hates friggin Biden right now lol!”
Hating Biden for that would seem to be in contradiction with your assertion that he needed to do it to “fire up his base”.
Ya can’t have it both ways, amigo. Well, given the history of your arguments here, I suspect you’ll try to anyway 🙂