I’m sure there was plenty of number crunching, and probably he waited until today to avoid being accused of interfering with North Carolina’s insanity, but the discussion is now officially altered. Remember that on the eve of the passage of the Civil Rights Act over eighty percent of the public opposed mixed-race marriage. Sometimes the people lead. Sometimes leaders have to lead.
It’ll probably cost Obama a swing state or two, but it puts Romney into a tough spot as to how to respond. He wants to appeal to independents (who don’t see this as a political issue and don’t want it in the national discussion), but he has to worry about the tea party fringe. I’m wondering if it was Lugar’s Waterloo rather than North Carolina which prompted this move. Actually, I suspect it was planned. Biden hinted at it several days ago.
Point is, calculated or not, this is a turning point in history.
The Log Cabin Club is already freaking out, complaining that it’s a dollar late and a day short. They have a point. But are they going to press Romney on the issue? I doubt it.
Addendum: Rick Santorum chimes in, attacking “cultural elites.”
Second addendum: Romney responds, cautiously. And even more cautiously on domestic unions.
And not all progressives are sanguine about the outcome. This blogger thinks that Obama just handed Romney the Presidency.
And here’s a TPM article posted yesterday explaining why Obama wouldn’t do what he did today.
Third addendum: Barney Frank doesn’t think it’ll cost Obama any votes.
This does not meant that the President’s decision today was entirely without some political risk, but I believe it will be clear in the days ahead that this will cost him no votes, since those opposed to legal equality for LGBT people were already inclined to oppose him, and that it will make it easier for us to mobilize the people in this country who oppose discrimination to help reelect him.
I disagree slightly. Probably it won’t cost him many votes because while some, particularly in the African-American and Hispanic communities, oppose gay marriage, it isn’t a significant voting issue in Presidential choices. Obama did quite well in 2008 when Prop 8 passed. There was obviously some overlap.
Al Franken has some nice words.
Fourth addendum: OBAMA FLIP-FLOPS, DECLARES WAR ON MARRIAGE!
That was of course a Fox Nation headline.
Fifth Addendum: The interview.
Sixth Addendum: Rush chimes in (after the Fox Nation headline was scrubbed) and a TPM poster responds.
” “We’ve arrived at a point where the President of the United States is going to lead a war on traditional marriage,” Rush Limbaugh said on his show Wednesday.” His first, second, third, and fourth wives could not be reached for comment.
44 comments
Comments feed for this article
May 9, 2012 at 1:09 pm
Fred Mangels
Call me crazy. Call me delusional, but I can’t help but think there’s a good chance Gary Johnson’s winning the LP nomination last weekend brought this about. Strange he’d win the nomination on Saturday and Monday this becomes an issue with the White House?
You have a past two- term Republican Governor from a Democratic state who was open about supporting same sex marriage from the start. Fiscally conservative, socially tolerant and against U.S. aggression of other countries. I’d call that a fairly credible threat as far as getting some left leaning folks looking his way.
He would have been the only candidate on the ballot in all 50 states that supported SSM if Obama hadn’t changed his tune. No way of knowing for sure, but I’ll bet we owe this change to Gary Johnson.
http://www.garyjohnson2012.com
May 9, 2012 at 1:14 pm
Eric Kirk
Uh, yeah Fred, that’s a stretch.
May 9, 2012 at 1:24 pm
Fred Mangels
Pretty strange timing, imo. Quite the coincidence.
May 9, 2012 at 1:30 pm
Eric Kirk
I think the timing has more to do with the North Carolina referendum and the calculation that he had to put up or shut up. I also think the Lugar election revealed an opportunity to put a wedge between the Republicans and Independents. I don’t think more than 3 percent of the population even knows who Gary Johnson is, and I doubt that he’s even on Obama’s radar.
May 9, 2012 at 1:37 pm
Anonymous
But what is Obama’s position on plan A?
May 9, 2012 at 1:58 pm
Anonymous
Actually Obama left it up to the states to decide on SSM. He is ok with NC’s vote. He just wants the votes. Why now? Just because it is an election year?
May 9, 2012 at 2:04 pm
Eric Kirk
Well, the point is that it will probably lose him votes. So the strategic question is why not last year? Obviously he left it to the states. He doesn’t have any power to do otherwise (except try to repeal the DOMA maybe).
He is not “okay” with NC’s vote, not if he believes what he’s saying.
May 9, 2012 at 2:13 pm
Anonymous
He did not complain about it.
May 9, 2012 at 2:25 pm
Anonymous
Maybe that is the point. Maybe he does not believe what he is saying. He just wants the political points.
May 9, 2012 at 2:55 pm
Ryan Burns (@RyanBurnsy)
Joe Biden put Obama on the spot last Sunday. And I’m not so sure this will cost Obama votes in the few states that matter. Consider Barney Frank’s point, then consider the other side of that same coin — namely 2008 Obama supporters who think he’s capitulated too much. His gay marriage statement highlights a stark contrast between the two candidates (and Eric’s right, Fred, Gary Johnson simply don’t rate). As such, it may inspire more enthusiasm from the left.
May 9, 2012 at 2:57 pm
Ryan Burns (@RyanBurnsy)
On second read, I guess that was exactly Barney Frank’s point.
May 9, 2012 at 3:14 pm
Eric Kirk
Maybe that is the point. Maybe he does not believe what he is saying. He just wants the political points.
Again, the problem with that theory is that it’s not going to earn him points. He’s going to lose points. I think people around here exist in an insular plain, and we forget that the majority of people still oppose us on the issue, some quite strongly. If he did this to make “political points” then it will go down as one of the most ridiculous political blunders ever. This is a gamble, and could quite possibly cost him the election. Probably not, but maybe so.
May 9, 2012 at 3:51 pm
Bolithio
Good for Obama. Now we just need him to stand his ground to prevent the US from completely becoming an oligarchy.
May 9, 2012 at 4:24 pm
Ryan Burns (@RyanBurnsy)
Not according to the latest Gallup poll.
May 9, 2012 at 4:27 pm
Eric Kirk
Ryan – Yeah, unfortunately those polled never seem to be around when a marriage equality ban is being voted on.
May 9, 2012 at 4:31 pm
Ryan Burns (@RyanBurnsy)
Enthusiasm gap. Hatred and fear are powerful motivators.
May 9, 2012 at 7:22 pm
Anonymous
David Johnson’s quote is worthy of Andy Borowitz or Jon Stewart.
May 9, 2012 at 10:04 pm
Anonymous
Eric, looking at Obama’s history of political promises, can you really say he will keep this item? Patriot Act? Gitmo?
May 10, 2012 at 7:19 am
Anonymous
flip flop, flip flop, flip flop
Maybe he and VP Biden should so something about Eric Holder! Like fire him, prosecute him, or at a minimum have him come clean with Congress on the Fast and Furious debacle.
May 10, 2012 at 8:51 am
Charles Douglas
Leave it to the North Coast Journal staffers to be automatically dismissive and disrespectful towards any and all third party candidates — even a two-term governor. Burns wouldn’t be doing Judy Hodgson’s bidding otherwise.
May 10, 2012 at 8:52 am
Mitch
I was mildly surprised by President Obama’s timing, but completely floored by the press reaction.
I guess I really do have a different perspective on things — I view politician’s opinions on such matters as trailing indicators, not leading indicators, and I don’t think they have much relevance — certainly not as much relevance as the press seems to think this one has.
I nearly laughed out loud listening to Andrew Sullivan’s story of tearing up, and I’m gay and married.
The exciting news for me is that public opinion polling on gay marriage is apparently changing at lightning speed in favor of equality, not that a President has decided the risk/reward ratio in speaking up has entered what his advisors consider an acceptable zone.
The single most interesting part of the extended news coverage is the Washington Post story about Romney being an anti-gay bully in high school, confirmed by interviews with five classmates. He went so far as to cut off an unwilling classmates long bleached blond hair. He says he doesn’t recall.
Would you recall if you cornered a classmate while your gang members held him down, and then cut off his hair?
I don’t know if this story will get traction (“I was in high school… these people have to drag my high school days into it…”) but it would be so sweet if a high school thug’s high school record was decisive in preventing him from becoming President of the United States.
May 10, 2012 at 9:09 am
Mitch
Maybe this shows the real Romney:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2142469/Mitt-Romney-mocked-assaulted-high-school-classmate-presumed-gay-according-fellow-students.html
May 10, 2012 at 12:46 pm
Fred Mangels
Maybe this shows the real Romney
Of course, when all the stories surfaced during Obama’s campaign about him having sexual relations with another guy or snorting cocaine, that was some over the top smear job by right wingers. Right?
May 10, 2012 at 1:06 pm
Mitch
No, Fred, your Obama story sounds like it was an attempt for publicity by a guy with mental health issues and an extensive criminal background:
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0608/11164.html
I’d never heard of this, probably due to the left wing media. The coverup may be coordinated by Ariana Huffington:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/06/18/obama-accuser-larry-sincl_n_107900.html
Meanwhile, the Romney bullying was recalled five decades later by five classmates; here are three, from the Daily Mail story I linked above:
“The incident was recalled by five former Cranbrook pupils including Thomas Buford, a retired prosecutor, who helped hold Mr Lauber down.
“He said: ‘It happened very quickly, and to this day it troubles me. What a senseless, stupid, idiotic thing to do.’
“Phillip Maxwell, who is now a lawyer, added: ‘It was a hack job. It was vicious.’
“Mr Friedemann, a dentist, also felt bad for not stopping it happening and admitted Mr Lauber was ‘easy pickins’.”
The story also describes how he harassed another gay classmate.
May 10, 2012 at 3:09 pm
Thorstein Veblen
Reponse to reports of Romney school bullying; ‘I heard Obama had homo sex and snorted cocaine’.
Rather than any number of other possible responses that actually related to the reported Romney school bullying.
May 10, 2012 at 3:37 pm
Fred Mangels
As did a lot of kids back in the day.
Regardless, just as with everything else, you pick up and run with something you find on someone you don’t like. When something comes up about someone you do like, Gallegos, for example, you do your best to attack it.
I guess that’s run- of- the- mill politics, but I like to feel I’m above that sort of thing.
May 10, 2012 at 6:35 pm
Anonymous
A 17 year old can be convicted to life in prison so giving Romney a pass for his unprovoked and vicious attack on a student suspected of being gay because he didn’t like the way he looked (gay) is beyond absurd. That he claims he can’t remember it is alarming. How many boys did he bully that he can’t remember such an extreme event? This story just shows how deeply ingrained his sociopathy is. He doesn’t care about other people and he never has.
May 10, 2012 at 6:39 pm
Eric Kirk
Mitch – I have to disagree with you on this one. Yes, the polls are improving, but people seem to answer the pollsters one way and then vote another. I think Obama’s chances of winning are less than they were two days ago. I hope I’m wrong.
May 11, 2012 at 10:05 am
Eric Kirk
Some interesting thoughts from Josh Marshal on Romney’s handling of the high school bullying (assault and battery actually) story. Romney and his team seem to be in denial about the seriousness of the story, and his responses are less than consistent. Example – if he doesn’t remember the incident then how to explain his response that he didn’t know that the victim was gay. And how do you forget something like that?
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2012/05/question_of_the_day_12.php?ref=fpblg
May 11, 2012 at 11:04 am
Jane
IMHO… there is no way he just forgot unless he is a narcissist in the extreme. How do you commit group thuggery and cut off someone’s hair and then forget? What a jerk.
May 11, 2012 at 11:08 am
Mitch
Thanks, Eric. I saw that Josh Marshall piece. There was an earlier piece in which Marshall quoted from one of his readers about one explanation for Romney not recalling the bullying incident being that he’s a sociopath. Though lots of people will probably consider that over-the-top, I think it’s a perfectly reasonable speculation, and I think there are a lot of sociopaths in high places in our society. Part of being a sociopath is being charming and believable.
What personality type do you think is able to shut down companies and throw fleets of middle aged people out of work in order to get a better bottom line for some billionaire, then go home to the wife and kids? What personality type do you think runs ad campaigns like Swift Boat Vets for Truth, or fights regulations on tobacco companies?
I think it’s perfectly reasonable for Romney to assert that they just didn’t think about homosexuality back in the 60s. I can believe that Romney just felt the kid was too sissified, without linking that explicitly to sexuality. A bully doesn’t need to bully homosexual children — any weak or less popular kid will do. (Maybe a repressed homosexual bully would specifically target kids for appearing gay — I doubt that’s Romney’s problem.)
I wish every voter would ask themselves if they think they’d remember cornering a frightened classmate in high school, having one’s friends hold them down, and cutting off their hair? I wish every voter would ask themselves if, once such a person grows up, they’d be their first choice for leader of the free world? Romney went on to cut funding for a Massachusetts anti-bullying program.
It’s revealing that Romney’s apparently had a hard time finding classmates from his high school to support him; in a truly cringeworthly little news item, one classmate revealed that Romney had asked him to say something helpful and he “hadn’t decided” yet whether he would. Sounds like his classmates that remember him don’t remember him all that fondly.
Can someone change in fifty years? We’d all better hope so. Did Romney change from being a bully? I doubt it.
What would have pushed him to change? He was never punished, and he’s led a wealthy brat’s life for all his life.
He probably thinks, like a high school bully, that he can get away with anything he tries to get away with. That would explain his lack of shame in things like claiming credit for the auto bailout, or being against “Obamacare,” which he practically designed, or the ease with which he puts on and takes off the other necessary opinions of the day.
May 11, 2012 at 11:18 am
Ernie's Place
Romney sounds like a Republican John Edwards with his denial.
May 11, 2012 at 11:21 am
Mitch
That sounds fair.
May 11, 2012 at 11:22 am
Eric Kirk
As Marshall points out, all he really had to do was get out in front of the story, admit that he was a jerk to some people in high school as often the dominant high school clique members are, that he wouldn’t tolerate similar behavior from his own children and that he’s made certain they’re better than he was, and apologize. We wouldn’t be discussing it several days later.
May 11, 2012 at 11:28 am
Mitch
We probably won’t be discussing it several days from now anyway. I hope I’m wrong.
In my own paranoid fantasies, I’m half-wondering if this is all a giant setup to get a new Republican nominee in place without giving the Dems time to vet them. Americans Elect will probably have Buddy Roemer on the ballot in most or all states.
May 11, 2012 at 12:39 pm
Eric Kirk
Another “not Romney” in the works? Again? but that trick never works!
May 12, 2012 at 10:39 am
Eric Kirk
And alleged libertarian Senator Rand Paul chimes in:
At the Iowa Faith & Freedom event, Paul mocked President Obama’s remark that his view on marriage was evolving. “Call me cynical, but I didn’t think his views on marriage could get any gayer,” he said.
http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entries/rand-paul-i-didnt-think-obamas-views-on?ref=fpblg
May 13, 2012 at 7:25 pm
Eric Kirk
Huh. Maybe Obama’s think tanks calculated this one right.
http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/05/evangelicals-unhappy-republican-gay-marriage.php?ref=fpa
May 15, 2012 at 8:08 am
Eric Kirk
On the other hand, maybe not.
http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/05/barack-obama-gay-marriage-cbs-new-york-times-poll.php?ref=fpnewsfeed
May 15, 2012 at 5:30 pm
Anonymous
Ouch Eric, I told you on the poly bit, but you blew it off. A easy majority think it was a ploy per that poll you linked to.
May 15, 2012 at 10:16 pm
Eric Kirk
Yeah, well, if it was a ploy, it wasn’t thought out very well. Uncharacteristic if it’s the case.
Ironically, it suggests it wasn’t a ploy.
In the meantime, someone sent me this link to a Huey Newton commentary on homosexuality, before it was fashionable even on the left and certainly in the black community.
http://hiphopandpolitics.wordpress.com/2012/05/11/looking-back-at-huey-newtons-thoughts-on-gay-rights-in-the-wake-of-obamas-endorsement/
May 16, 2012 at 7:46 am
Mitch
Eric,
Thanks for that link.
1970!
Huey Newton, founder of the Black Panthers!
Complaining about the use of anti-gay slurs!
Talking about anti-gay bullies being afraid of their own homosexuality!
Thanks for my bit of education this morning. I am amazed.
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