Obama Backs Gay Marriage!

[State Comptroller Atkins]

A friendly reminder before Willard goes on the attack.

Romney's position has "evolved," too ... backwards! He must be the only person in the country who was more comfortable with gay rights in the 1990's than he is now.

In public.

[Yank2133]

We all knew this, but it is nice for him to come out and say it.

[Swing low, sweet chariot. Comin' for to carry me home.]

was he flanked by Jannes and Jambres when he made the announcement?

[marvelrobbins]

Romney Is a liar.Besides big business he has no core.

back In 1994 he ran as Liberal Republican against Ted Kennedy.Running as Prochoice,not part
of reagan and Bush cwoad,and to the left of Kennedy on Gay Rights

In 2002 he ran as moderate Republican In MA.

This was guy who attacked John Kerry as Flipflopper In 2004.

He signed a more liberal version of Obama Health care reform Into Law as Governor of MA.

Obama coming out for gay Marrage today has guranteed plenty of antigay marrage ads against
him.

Romney even has the nerve to try to claim saving the auto idustry was his Idea.

[MilesC56]

Not a position I agree with, but it should help with liberal enthusiasm.

[ShadowOfTheWave]

A friendly reminder before Willard goes on the attack.

Romney's position has "evolved," too ... backwards! He must be the only person in the country who was more comfortable with gay rights in the 1990's than he is now.

In the 90s, Obama actually wrote a paper in full support of gay marriage, so up until this point he was just as much a flip flopper as Romney on the issue.

[The Mikado]

Well, color me surprised.  I didn't think he had the balls.

Good for you, Mr. President.

[krazen1211]

Congratulations, Mr. Romney.

[Nagas]

Congratulations, Mr. Romney.

Since when did bigotry become something to be lauded?

[Simfan34]

Obama also supported gay marriage before he was against it before he was for it:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/01/13/obama-once-supported-same_n_157656.html

Really, he's no better than Romney.

[Governor NVGonzalez]

I welcome their hatred

Where do you get that from? I only see "OBAMA FLIP FLOPS ON GAY MARRIAGE"

It was on during the first 20-30 minutes of the breaking news.

[Bacon King]

This is a very unpredictable move on Obama's part, in terms of political repercussions. Very uncharacteristic of his usually methodological and reserved approach.

This could be great, and give him a big advantage because the left will see the election as a referendum on gay marriage and be way more motivated with donations (many will probably consider an Obama loss something that will set the gay-rights movement back a decade). It also has a chance of getting the GOP very off message when they should be focusing on the economy.

On the other hand, this could hypothetically lose Obama a lot of support among swing voters (especially in more working-class states). Not to mention that the religious opposition will be extreme.

[Simfan34]

This is a very unpredictable move on Obama's part, in terms of political repercussions. Very uncharacteristic of his usually methodological and reserved approach.

This could be great, and give him a big advantage because the left will see the election as a referendum on gay marriage and be way more motivated with donations (many will probably consider an Obama loss something that will set the gay-rights movement back a decade). It also has a chance of getting the GOP very off message when they should be focusing on the economy.

On the other hand, this could hypothetically lose Obama a lot of support among swing voters (especially in more working-class states). Not to mention that the religious opposition will be extreme.

If this happens Obama is done for. Romney shall accuse him of trying to shift the election's focus from the economy to try to take off the spotlight from his own failures, whether real or not.

[asexual trans victimologist]

Congratulations, Mr. Romney.

Since when did bigotry become something to be lauded?

I think krazen is of the opinion that the division on this issue has de facto ended the election in Romney's favor. If pressed, I would say that krazen believes this because he believes that this is something that the American people, or key segments thereof, will side with Romney and against the President on this, in sufficient numbers and with sufficient zeal to render any other issues that may have helped the President's reelection campaign minor by comparison.

Am I getting that right?

[5280/East California]

Looks like Obama alienated about half the hispanic votes in key swing states.  Oh, and I thought Romney was a flip flopper on issues, Obama supporters can be hypocrites at times.

[ShadowOfTheWave]

It will be great when society moves off this issue, but the liberals are simply going to keep inventing new minorities. Homosexuals, transexuals, don't tell me this ain't a slippery slope.

[ajb]

Romney's response:

“I have the same view on marriage that I had when I was Governor,” Romney said. “I believe that marriage is a relationship between a man and a woman. I know other people have differing views. This a very tender and sensitive topic as are many social issues, but I have the same views I’ve had since running for office.”

http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entries/romney-marriage-is-relationship-between-man-woman

Not much firebreathing, really. More defensiveness about his own position.

[5280/East California]

Romney's response:

“I have the same view on marriage that I had when I was Governor,” Romney said. “I believe that marriage is a relationship between a man and a woman. I know other people have differing views. This a very tender and sensitive topic as are many social issues, but I have the same views I’ve had since running for office.”

http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entries/romney-marriage-is-relationship-between-man-woman

Not much firebreathing, really. More defensiveness about his own position.

Romney has a reasonable response to Obama's stance on gay marriage. Leave it up to the states to decide what's right.

[Yank2133]

Looks like Obama alienated about half the hispanic votes in key swing states.  Oh, and I thought Romney was a flip flopper on issues, Obama supporters can be hypocrites at times.

Yeah, because they are going to run to the party that has demonize them the past few years.

Conservatives desperation is hilarious...........

[asexual trans victimologist]

It will be great when society moves off this issue, but the liberals are simply going to keep inventing new minorities. Homosexuals, transexuals, don't tell me this ain't a slippery slope.

It's the minorities who are 'inventing' themselves, thank you, and...I mean, no, this isn't a slippery slope, or at least there's no reason why it has to be. Why should it be? We've been in the process of reevaluating the issue of gender roles and their implications, which is a specific issue and not some sort of locus of unrelated affairs, for a couple of centuries now.

Looks like Obama alienated about half the hispanic votes in key swing states.  Oh, and I thought Romney was a flip flopper on issues, Obama supporters can be hypocrites at times.

Hispanics support gay marriage at about the same rate as non-Hispanic whites these days.

[Grad Students are the Worst]

Obama also supported gay marriage before he was against it before he was for it:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/01/13/obama-once-supported-same_n_157656.html

Really, he's no better than Romney.

Oh, they absolutely both played expediency on this issue, but at least one eventually came back to a position that is intellectually and morally defensible -- and probably did so before it was actually politically expedient in the swing states.

Romney has a reasonable response to Obama's stance on gay marriage. Leave it up to the states to decide what's right.

Oh, perfectly reasonable, besides what he would vote personally if it came to referendum.  Also, I'm pretty sure that Obama has said "leave it up to the states" since the announcement, too.  Still not a difficult choice between the two opinions.

[5280/East California]

Looks like Obama alienated about half the hispanic votes in key swing states.  Oh, and I thought Romney was a flip flopper on issues, Obama supporters can be hypocrites at times.

Yeah, because they are going to run to the party that has demonize them the past few years.

Conservatives desperation is hilarious...........

Right....and Obama supports clean renewable energy when he drives a gas guzzling caddy?  Hypocrites!

[BaldEagle1991]

It will be great when society moves off this issue, but the liberals are simply going to keep inventing new minorities. Homosexuals, transexuals, don't tell me this ain't a slippery slope.

Since when did minorities are "made"? They're born.

[Governor Scott]

It will be great when society moves off this issue, but the liberals are simply going to keep inventing new minorities. Homosexuals, transexuals, don't tell me this ain't a slippery slope.

...We invented minorities?  That's, um, interesting.

[Bacon King]

This is a very unpredictable move on Obama's part, in terms of political repercussions. Very uncharacteristic of his usually methodological and reserved approach.

This could be great, and give him a big advantage because the left will see the election as a referendum on gay marriage and be way more motivated with donations (many will probably consider an Obama loss something that will set the gay-rights movement back a decade). It also has a chance of getting the GOP very off message when they should be focusing on the economy.

On the other hand, this could hypothetically lose Obama a lot of support among swing voters (especially in more working-class states). Not to mention that the religious opposition will be extreme.

If this happens Obama is done for. Romney shall accuse him of trying to shift the election's focus from the economy to try to take off the spotlight from his own failures, whether real or not.

But that's the beauty of this. Obama doesn't have to mention anything else about gay marriage for the rest of the year. This single signal is enough to get equality advocates seriously motivated. He can and certainly will continue to stay on message arguing that his policies saved the economy, things are getting better, etc., however his campaign is phrasing it.

Obama has said, "yeah, I support gay marriage," and that's all he has to do. Now Romney can either ignore it and stay on the economy (but miss opportunity to win over religious swing voters) or respond and risk losing his campaign's narrative. Certainly a dilemma for Romney's people, I'd imagine.