News Flash!! Evolution Now Complete: Obama Embraces Same-Sex Marriage
tabula rasa ·
May 9, 2012 at 9:32pm
After a long evolutionary process (longer, it seems, than actual evolutionary processes), our President has now embraced same-sex marriage.
Does anyone really believe that the President who refused to defend the Defense of Marriage Act just came to this painful decision?
I don't see this playing well for him in the election. Thoughts?
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Feb '12
Re: News Flash!! Evolution Now Complete: Obama Embraces Same-Sex Marriage
This is perhaps the least shocking headline of all time.
Did anyone really doubt Obama's support of same sex marriage?
Nov '10
Re: News Flash!! Evolution Now Complete: Obama Embraces Same-Sex Marriage
katievs
I'm on board with this. I've heard Robby George lay it out somewhere.
If two friends or two spinster sisters or two lesbians want to have some kind legal recognition of their belonging to each other—being able to declare each other, legally, "next of kin", for instance, they should be able to do it.
The key is that it not be limited to sexual liaisons.
Of course, that's not good enough for the gay activists. Civil unions aren't good enough for the gay activists; they want full marriage. But perhaps it would be good enough for at least some of the Rico libertarians?
I have a dear (female) friend who has lived for decades with the same woman. They do not identify as lesbian, but they are a permanent household. Why should they be discriminated against compared with an overt lesbian couple?
Nov '11
Re: News Flash!! Evolution Now Complete: Obama Embraces Same-Sex Marriage
Fred Cole: Not for nothing, but this is a politically winning position for Obama.
Half the American public supports marriage equality. He wins the youth vote, the gay vote, the votes of anyone with a gay sibling, parent or friend, and doesn't lose any of the black vote. · 4 hours ago
False. Thanks for your stereotyping, though!
Jun '10
Re: News Flash!! Evolution Now Complete: Obama Embraces Same-Sex Marriage
Lucy Pevensie
Kevin Williamson, years ago, wrote an article in NR suggesting that, instead of civil unions, the state should recognize some kind of "permanent household" (my wording, not his).
I mean, if great-aunt Sally moves in with your family to take care of your kids, why shouldn't she be eligible to be on your insurance just like your spouse?
First the liberals will convince us we need SSM so that everyone can put their life partner on their employer-subsidized insurance plan, and then they'll abolish private insurance and replace it with single payer. Ironic.
Here's a crazy idea: why not let each person freely contract with an insurance company at a market rate based on actuarial risk. Just as wireless providers offer family plans, insurance companies can offer discounts for wives, significant others, maiden aunts, or baby mommas if they wish.
We don't need to redefine the age-old institution of marriage, nor do we need to create new classes of government-recognized households, just to allow private companies to offer family plans.
May '10
Re: News Flash!! Evolution Now Complete: Obama Embraces Same-Sex Marriage
I could give on gay marriage if I knew it would end there. But it won't. Because the first rule of liberalism is simple: Until this society is destroyed and completely remade in their image it is never enough to satisfy.
Nov '10
Re: News Flash!! Evolution Now Complete: Obama Embraces Same-Sex Marriage
Joseph Stanko
First the liberals will convince us we need SSM so that everyone can put their life partner on their employer-subsidized insurance plan, and then they'll abolish private insurance and replace it with single payer. Ironic.
Here's a crazy idea: why not let each person freely contract with an insurance company at a market rate based on actuarial risk. Just as wireless providers offer family plans, insurance companies can offer discounts for wives, significant others, maiden aunts, or baby mommas if they wish.
We don't need to redefine the age-old institution of marriage, nor do we need to create new classes of government-recognized households, just to allow private companies to offer family plans.
Well, I'd totally love it if this were going to happen, but it isn't. In the meantime, government has gotten a lot more meddlesome since my grandmother was raised by her great aunt (after her mother died). It might actually be important in the modern world to have some kind of official recognition of that household's permanence. All kinds of households do exist; why can't we acknowledge the fact, disconnected from sexuality?
Oct '10
Re: News Flash!! Evolution Now Complete: Obama Embraces Same-Sex Marriage
Oh wonderful. I'm so happy that the man responsible for the political comeback of the nihilist left has embraced gay marriage. Because, of course, nihilists love marriage and monogamy, and won't twist this to attack the family, no, they just care about equal rights.
Jul '10
Re: News Flash!! Evolution Now Complete: Obama Embraces Same-Sex Marriage
This is difficult to answer, since President Obama and sincerity are, as near as I can tell, not even nodding acquaintances. But look at it this way: if he is sincere now, then he certainly wasn't sincere in his earlier pronouncements in support of traditional marriage. Naturally he wants to have it both ways; on this issue, he always has.
One way or the other, I would have to answer your question with a definite "No".
Edited on May 10, 2012 at 2:51amOct '10
Re: News Flash!! Evolution Now Complete: Obama Embraces Same-Sex Marriage
That's part of my motivation of pushing gay marriage in the Republican Party. I completely agree, which is why I want conservatives (specifically, socially conservatives who will tell gay people they'd better live responsible monogamous lives or else) to do it.
Oct '10
Re: News Flash!! Evolution Now Complete: Obama Embraces Same-Sex Marriage
Mothership_Greg
Fred Cole: Not for nothing, but this is a politically winning position for Obama.
Half the American public supports marriage equality. He wins the youth vote, the gay vote, the votes of anyone with a gay sibling, parent or friend, and doesn't lose any of the black vote. · 4 hours ago
False. Thanks for your stereotyping, though! · 38 minutes ago
Yeah, I think this will be a net loser for Obama. Romney will not say anything remotely hateful about gay marriage; he'll oppose it, but he'll be nice about it. That will leave Obama in the position of having flipped-flopped on the issue, which I think independent voters will find a little off-putting in contrast to Romney's principled-but-not-hateful position.
Apr '11
Re: News Flash!! Evolution Now Complete: Obama Embraces Same-Sex Marriage
Great coverage over the The Onion:
WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama lashed out at President Barack Obama's seemingly evasive stance on gay marriage Tuesday, calling the head-of-state's cagey position on the issue both "cowardly" and "an example of failed leadership."
Speaking to reporters from the White House East Room, Obama said that he has had enough of the president's endless hedging on same-sex marriage and that, as president of the United States, he can't just sit back and take a passive position on what he called the "most important civil rights issue of our time."
"President Obama's inability to simply state whether he's for or against gay marriage is unacceptable," Obama said during a spirited 30-minute address in which he sharply criticized the president for failing time and again to articulate his beliefs. "This nonsense where he says his views are 'evolving' isn't going to cut it anymore. It's patronizing and it's wrong."...full article
Nov '11
Re: News Flash!! Evolution Now Complete: Obama Embraces Same-Sex Marriage
Joseph Eagar
That's part of my motivation of pushing gay marriage in the Republican Party. I completely agree, which is why I want conservatives (specifically, socially conservatives who will tell gay people they'd better live responsible monogamous lives or else) to do it.
But the problem with your idea is that if you permit same-sex marraige, you thereby sacrifice the only rational ground for prohibiting polygamy.
Please note, Obama used the acronym LGBT, and the B will soon cry out that he/she must also be allowed to actualize his/her amorous destiny.
If two is good, why isn't three better? Since when was selfishness a proper basis for enlightened social policy? The more the merrier, right? Why should government be allowed to decide for grownups that two is better than three, that three can't be just as deeply commited to each other as two? "Tous pour un, un pour tous!"
Edited on May 10, 2012 at 3:51amAug '10
Re: News Flash!! Evolution Now Complete: Obama Embraces Same-Sex Marriage
When El Presidente comes out in favor of the "marriage" of a man and his goat, or his sister, or a child, or a plethora of babes at the same time then we can say he has taken an impressively consistent position.
Apr '12
Re: News Flash!! Evolution Now Complete: Obama Embraces Same-Sex Marriage
Guruforhire
My facebook feed has been pretty insufferable today. I mean the 40% are really really really really ticked and are looking to yell at someone. · 7 hours ago
This is on my Facebook feed too. President Obama certainly has energized the 20-somethings.
I haven't seen anyone on Facebook write anything against same-sex marriage. What can one write without alienating friends who support it? This is a consistent trend on Facebook (at least among my recently graduated friends), where liberal values are praised much more than conservative ones.
It is significant that liberals rarely ask that question about how not to alienate those who disagree with them. Dennis Prager often writes about how liberals see conservatives as bad rather than wrong. If opposing same-sex marriage is bad, why worry about alienating those who disagree?
Apr '11
Re: News Flash!! Evolution Now Complete: Obama Embraces Same-Sex Marriage
Western Chauvinist
dogsbody
... his declaration will disappoint a lot of rural black voters who oppose gay marriage, but he'll lose only a small fraction of their votes come November.
So what if a few black and hispanic voters stay home? That's what cemeteries are for.
Apr '11
Re: News Flash!! Evolution Now Complete: Obama Embraces Same-Sex Marriage
Does anybody think today's excitement will translate to any enthusiasm 6 months from now?
May '10
Re: News Flash!! Evolution Now Complete: Obama Embraces Same-Sex Marriage
Lucy Pevensie
dogsbody
I think he decided he gains more from firing up the urban liberals than he loses from other voters.
I don't know. I just don't think that there are a lot of hardcore lefty urban liberals who weren't going to vote before this. · 8 hours ago
Au contraire. There are plenty of urban default-liberals who are politically disengaged and rarely vote but have gay friends and will get off their butts to go vote for gay marriage. I know a whole bunch of them.
Edit: I just noticed this post created a triple negative. High five!
Edited on May 10, 2012 at 9:10amJul '10
Re: News Flash!! Evolution Now Complete: Obama Embraces Same-Sex Marriage
This is more about fundraising than votes. That's the only explanation where his timing makes sense. If he were after votes, he would have held on to his reveal. Since a statement like this can be dropped pretty much anywhere and creates its own media ripple, it would have made for a handy October Surprise to energize his base to fall in love with him again before the election.
Doing it now means he's courting wealthy liberals, for whom this is a major issue, and who have expressed disappointment that he hasn't been the liberal crusader of their dreams. He's hoping this is enough to make them open their wallets.
I smell panic. And it's delicious.
Apr '11
Re: News Flash!! Evolution Now Complete: Obama Embraces Same-Sex Marriage
Wylee Coyote: This is more about fundraising than votes. That's the only explanation where his timing makes sense. If he were after votes, he would have held on to his reveal......
Doing it now means he's courting wealthy liberals, for whom this is a major issue, and who have expressed disappointment that he hasn't been the liberal crusader of their dreams. He's hoping this is enough to make them open their wallets.
I smell panic. And it's delicious. ·
This is definitely about funding, but it doesn't mean that he was forced into the timing. He apparently wants this to be the topic of the convention and convention media coverage. Partly, I think this makes sense, as it is something they almost all agree on and it will help reduce any tension over other problems that arise. That will be where the fundraising bonanza from this really comes in (plus there's some fundraising benefit from responding to the NC Amendment).
I don't think it's panic. I think this was planned.
Aug '10
Re: News Flash!! Evolution Now Complete: Obama Embraces Same-Sex Marriage
I must agree with Mr W. Coyote. I read that Hollywood is so thrilled with his current evolution, the flood gates of money are now opening. The article read that they are realizing out there, in that great intellectual dessert, that Obama has had a hard time working with such intractible dolts as Republicans.