Obama Backs Gay Marriage!

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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.

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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.

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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.

So we agree that Romney's response is, all things considered, a moderate one. I'm saying that may lead him to fail to capitalize on this issue with conservative voters.

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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.

Supporting data:

http://univisionnews.tumblr.com/post/22727373632/obama-supports-same-sex-marriage-how-will-latinos-react

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Santorum's response:

    “The announcement today by President Obama should come as no surprise to the American public.  President Obama has consistently fought against protecting the institution of marriage from radical social engineering at both the state and federal level.  The President recently opposed the North Carolina constitutional amendment and, of course, he refused to defend President Clinton’s Defense of Marriage Act before the U.S. Supreme court.  The charade is now over, no doubt an attempt to galvanize his core hard left supporters in advance of the November election.

    Thankfully the American public, when it has had an opportunity to consider the real world consequences of such a fundamental change to our society, has consistently voted for maintaining one man one woman marriage - the basic building block of our society.  I will continue to fight to make sure that the cultural elites don’t further undermine the institution that gives the best opportunity for healthy, happy children and a just and prosperous society.” 

http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entries/santorum-responds-to-obama-charade-is-now-over

Compare this to what Romney said. This is what would motivate base turnout. Can anyone seriously imagine Romney as a compelling messenger for this argument?

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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 will remain in the Democratic column, simply for the fact that they don't vote for candidates based on social issues like this.

Obama already supported civil unions, this is just an upgrade in position. Really, it's not like he was hardcore social conservative on the issue.

Also, the poll I cited upthread suggests a plurality of Hispanics support same-sex marriage anyway. Opposition is also heavily concentrated among Hispanic evangelicals, who aren't likely to vote for Obama, anyway.

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Santorum's response:

    “The announcement today by President Obama should come as no surprise to the American public.  President Obama has consistently fought against protecting the institution of marriage from radical social engineering at both the state and federal level.  The President recently opposed the North Carolina constitutional amendment and, of course, he refused to defend President Clinton’s Defense of Marriage Act before the U.S. Supreme court.  The charade is now over, no doubt an attempt to galvanize his core hard left supporters in advance of the November election.

    Thankfully the American public, when it has had an opportunity to consider the real world consequences of such a fundamental change to our society, has consistently voted for maintaining one man one woman marriage - the basic building block of our society.  I will continue to fight to make sure that the cultural elites don’t further undermine the institution that gives the best opportunity for healthy, happy children and a just and prosperous society.” 

http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entries/santorum-responds-to-obama-charade-is-now-over

Compare this to what Romney said. This is what would motivate base turnout. Can anyone seriously imagine Romney as a compelling messenger for this argument?

It might motivate base turnout, but how are suburban swing voters going to react to that? How about white collar/economically oriented voters? Those are the votes Romney needs, and the GOP also needs to expand beyond that base and build a new one. Which is why I say we really need to move on from this issue.

Which is why this is probably, on balance, a win for Obama. It motivates parts of his base, while Romney's not the best messenger for motivating the conservative base on the issue, and will likely hold back for strategic reasons. Romney won't give Obama a big culture-wars showdown on the issue.

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To exactly the extent that Mitt Romney believes in "domestic partnership benefits, hospital visitation rights, and the like" in such cases.

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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.

Thanks for bringing this up. Yes, the Republicans could have exploited this issue to get more support with working class Hispanics but then you guys f'ed up with the AZ immigration law and similar laws that have been passed by Republicans across the country. Gays marrying will be less of an issue for Hispanic than one of the major parties race baiting using them to win votes. Haha, it will be fun watching you guys get punished for your bigotry.

Except that same-sex marriage is approximately as popular with Hispanic voters as it is with white voters.

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Apologies for writing in a normal-sized font. But the Washington Post has some interesting cross-tabs on support for same-sex marriage among different demographics:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/behind-the-numbers/post/poll-trend-on-same-sex-marriage/2012/05/09/gIQAi6zhDU_blog.html

Interestingly, Republicans today are pretty split on the issue, with 57% against, and 39% for. So it's not altogether easy for Romney to pontificate against same-sex marriage.

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Moral issues trump racial identity. This will bite Obama in the hindquarters amongst AA's and Latinos for sure. He just lost Indiana, West Virginia, made his life harder in Virginia, North Carolina, and possibly Ohio, Colorado, Missouri, and Florida.

If millions of pro-life evangelical African-Americans have been able to vote for Obama in spite of his being pro-choice, what makes you think same-sex marriage will be any different?