Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Obama's Stance On Same-Sex Marriage
Wednesday in an interview with ABC, Obama confirmed his stance on same-sex marriage. The President has been publicly indecisive on the matter previously, but in his interview, he stated his view that same-sex marriage should be permitted. This confirmation could affect the President's campaign in any number of ways. It puts him in direct opposition with Mitt Romney who openly opposes same-sex marrige. Also, although public opinion is rapidly adopting a view in favor of same-sex marriage, some states including North Carolina and Colorado have taken legislative measures to prevent even civil unions from being legal. Both of these states are swing states and could alter the campaign process. New York Times published an article today explaining that the President recognized the religious objections about the matter, and that he also engaged in a personal debate, but finally clarified his beliefs after conversations with friends and family. There has been mixed response to the President's announcement. While there has been much support, some find fault with the President for diverting attention away from the economy and onto a contreversial civil rights issue. What I want to know, is what do you guys think about all of this? How will this affect his cmpaign? And taking ourselves out of the California context, what does this mean for same-sex marriage?
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7 comments:
I for one am glad he made the announcement but after what Biden said, it was to be expected to some extent. If he hadn't said he supported it, people would have said that there was a contradiction in his campaign so it was better for him to agree with Biden then stay silent. Beside that point, I think it will give him a large advantage with the gay community if he hadn't already secured their support. To me, it would seem that as a gay citizen, Obama would seem the logical choice since he has stated that he would support gay rights. I know that a vote shouldn't be based off of only one aspect of the candidate, but the reality is many people do base their votes on only one thing. To his critics that say he is taking focus away from the economy, the Republicans are doing the same with their hype over abortion, the "war on women," and gay rights so Obama is not the only one that isn't talking about the economy (though it really should be a topic discussed in great detail right now). For same-sex marriage, I think that this is a great leap forward. They now have the support of a president, which is not something that could be said four years ago, so they should consider that a win for them (even if it is for a political reason).
I think that Patrick pretty much summed it up. With this announcement, I think that Obama may be able to sway some more younger voters. With the youth vote being a huge part of his success in 2008, I think that this announcement may persuade some members of the younger generation to vote for Obama, or even just to vote at all.
On the other hand, to play devil's advocate, there could be some backlash in more conservative states. Like previously stated, gay rights is a controversial issue and some conservative groups may view Obama's support as swaying the delicate balance a bit too far in favor of gay rights. Maybe they'll take some action to prevent same-sex marriage from being legalized.
Perhaps what Biden said was meant to be a test to see how people would react to explicit same-sex marriage supporters in the top of the executive branch, and the reaction was looked before Obama announced his position.
Anyway, I agree with Sophia that there could be backlash in conservative states, and there will be backlash in swing states that lean conservative, like North Carolina, which Obama barely won in 2008 and made their first amendment to their (post-Civil War) constitution on banning all types of domestic unions between people of the same sex.
I agree that it may be slightly detrimental to the Obama administration in there campaign to have come out so strongly for same sex marriage. I find it generally obvious that the democratic candidate would be more likely to already receive the vote of the gay community, considering the fact that they have been extremely more supportive of the gay rights movement. If this did anything, it pushed the already for sure republican states further right, and possibly secured more moderate states that do have a same sex marriage movement.
I'm not surprised about Obama's announcement of support for gay marriage due to the proximity of the presidential campaign season. I believe Obama always supported gay marriage but opted to support civil unions in his previous campaign as to not alienate potential voters. Apparently support for gay marriage has become less taboo over the last four years, making it less politically caustic for President Obama to vocalize his real opinions. I appreciate his honesty, but sometimes I wish politicians could me more transparent in their beliefs. I know they want to win votes and all, but what happened to standing by your beliefs regardless of the consequences?
Obama has had a lot of moderate support in the past though and this may cause a good amount of such voters to re-evaluate their opinions. To take another look at what they find important in a political candidate. I know that his supporters will generally also agree with his announcement, but it could separate him a little bit too much from the moderate voter.
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