Obama and the Politics of Gay Marriage

President Obama's position on gay marriage is described as "evolving."  Given his previous support (before he was running for president) does anyone doubt in which direction his opinion is evolving toward?  Put it another way, Obama is - by all the evidence - a liberal.  He publicly supports redistribution of wealth, abortion, all things "green," etc.  All are essential planks of the liberal doctrine.  So on the single issue of gay marriage we are supposed to believe that Obama suddenly has a less-than-liberal thought.  It is utter nonsense.  Obama's position is politics, pure and simple.  Here is how it goes.


During his first run for the presidency, Obama's pollsters told him that he could not come out in support of gay marriage.  The majority of Americans are opposed to it and it would hurt his chances.  And so he instead supported civil unions - short of what his gay supporters wanted.  No doubt discussions took place between his team and the gay community....discussions along the lines of "let's get this guy elected first and then we can support your cause when the time is right."  Well three quarters of the way through his term, the gay community begins to press the issue.  "He's not our guy, after all" some complain.  The pressure is on.


Obama's team knows that he must shore up his gay base for his next run.  And so he heads to a New York fundraiser of his gay supporters.  He is met with a mostly positive reception with only a few calls for him to support gay marriage.  What happened?  The same thing as before.  No doubt the Obama re-election advance team sat down with the leaders of the gay community.  The conversation probably went along the lines of...hey, we are on your side, but it's been a bear of a first term what with the mess that Bush left us with, etc.  Then again: "let's get this guy re-elected first and then we can support your cause."  After all then there will be no third term to worry about.


If Obama is re-elected, look for the completion of the "evolution" of his thinking shortly thereafter.