Axelrod: Obama Misled Nation When He Opposed Gay Marriage In 2008
Source: Time
Barack Obama misled Americans for his own political benefit when he claimed in the 2008 election to oppose same sex marriage for religious reasons, his former political strategist David Axelrod writes in a new book, Believer: My Forty Years in Politics.
Im just not very good at bullshitting, Obama told Axelrod, after an event where he stated his opposition to same-sex marriage, according to the book.
Axelrod writes that he knew Obama was in favor of same-sex marriages during the first presidential campaign, even Obama publicly said he only supported civil unions, not full marriages. Axelrod also admits to counseling Obama to conceal that position for political reasons. Opposition to gay marriage was particularly strong in the black church, and as he ran for higher office, he grudgingly accepted the counsel of more pragmatic folks like me, and modified his position to support civil unions rather than marriage, which he would term a sacred union, Axelrod writes.
The insiders account provides the clearest look yet at Obamas long-established flip-flop, one of the blemishes on his record as a progressive. The admission of Obamas embrace of deception also calls into question the Presidents stated embrace of a new kind of politics in 2008, when he promised to be unlike other politicians who change their views to match the political winds. Having prided himself on forthrightness, though, Obama never felt comfortable with his compromise and, no doubt, compromised position, Axelrod writes. He routinely stumbled over the question when it came up in debates or interviews.
Read more: http://time.com/3702584/gay-marriage-axelrod-obama/
OKNancy
(41,832 posts)I'm one of those people who believe it's sometimes wise to win first and play the political game.... and then BOOM!
bigworld
(1,807 posts)at the expense of political expediency. Which is sad. I'd love to know what he really thinks about the world.
Voice for Peace
(13,141 posts)It will say a great deal.
mopinko
(70,107 posts)and feel the same way about it.
i should get the book. i am sure a tour of ax's mind would be pretty interesting.
George II
(67,782 posts)....one can't do very much standing on the sidelines.
If this is his biggest sin, Obama is a saint compared to those around him.
Kahuna
(27,311 posts)his thinking was, timing is everything and 2008 just wasn't the time. But 2012 sure was.
irisblue
(32,975 posts)enjoy the money
msanthrope
(37,549 posts)the President's legacy.
JoePhilly
(27,787 posts)... was more important than saying the right thing, and preventing that outcome in the process.
And by getting that outcome, the people have now come along.
George II
(67,782 posts)...we'd probably have about ten, if that many.
JoePhilly
(27,787 posts)With the help of a GOP congress.
cheapdate
(3,811 posts)DeSwiss
(27,137 posts)cheapdate
(3,811 posts)President Obama has become a strong champion, in both word and deed, for justice and equality for LGBT citizens. It's hard to point to any other example in our history where such dramatic turnaround and progress on a social issue has been made in such a short time, and Obama's leadership has unquestionably played a major role in that progress.
However, it's improper to feel gladness, gratitude, and appreciation for the growing recognition of the justness of LGBT equality and Obama's role in it. It's improper because Obama supposedly disguised the full extent of his beliefs on the issue of marriage equality during the 2008 election campaign.
Is that correct?
BTW : There isn't any cognitive dissonance whatsoever in my attitude toward this matter. Which core beliefs of mine do you imagine are being protected by denial of evidence?
Historic NY
(37,449 posts)"I've been going through an evolution on this issue. I've always been adamant that gay and lesbian Americans should be treated fairly and equally," Mr. Obama said in a television interview with ABC. "At a certain point I've just concluded that, for me personally, it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same-sex couples should be able to get married."
http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702304070304577394332545729926
Turbineguy
(37,331 posts)You grow up with ideas based on misinformation and ignorance. It takes time to unlearn this. And some never get there.
FLPanhandle
(7,107 posts)Shocking.
Enrique
(27,461 posts)at least the politicians.
By the way this article has a lot of stuff about spin and forthrightness and political expediency, but this stuff from Axelrod is just more of it. Axelrod is still a political guy.
LynneSin
(95,337 posts)I mean the guy played the damn guitar while New Orleans was drowning!
BeyondGeography
(39,374 posts)Kind of redundant, isn't it?
George II
(67,782 posts)monmouth4
(9,705 posts)wait to read about that...
bread_and_roses
(6,335 posts)... and then gave us Summers, Geithner, Summers, Rahm et all.
I could go on .... about "misleading" on transparency, whistleblowers, spying, endless war .... but why bother?
DeSwiss
(27,137 posts)GeorgeGist
(25,321 posts)bullshit.
kelliekat44
(7,759 posts)They don't want to embrace the LBGT lifestyle openly. Most embrace their loved ones, their children, their parents, their other relative but they do it undercover of feigned outrage. They know full well that the LBGTs are just like all the rest of us, human beings with feelings and all the other human frailties. Some are good, some are evil...just like the rest of us. But many so-called Christians would just rather not have to deal with the issue openly.
What drives many of the evangelicals to the polls to vote against gay marriage is not so much that they haven't seen and been a part of gay relationships among their family and friends all their lives. It's that now they feel they are being forced to openly accept such relationships and have to face their bigoted and homophobic fellow church goers.
I grew up with two aunts living together all of my life and two different sets of "uncles" in the same kind of relationships. They were all accepted by the family and were really the favorites among all the "aunts" and "uncles." It wasn't until an outsider would bring up a question about why "Aunt Jessie" never married or why handsome uncle Bill didn't have a girlfriend, that made my grandparents feign their disgust and force aunt deacon Cora to "testify" in church about how Satan was taking over the family.
Ignorant? Yes. But it was the culture of the time and remnants still exist, sadly.
JI7
(89,249 posts)Liberal_Stalwart71
(20,450 posts)The Stranger
(11,297 posts)We have a President who makes a fucking unbelievable move politically, socially, sociologically and morally for the nation, and Axelrod has to try to backstab him for it.
He's such a piece of shit that he has to attack Obama -- helping out the Rightist Hate-filled Extremists by weakening one of our own.
Fuck you, Axelrod. How does irrelevance feel?
This is why we lose.
This is why we lose.
blkmusclmachine
(16,149 posts)PoliticAverse
(26,366 posts)msongs
(67,406 posts)PoliticAverse
(26,366 posts)(although after Obama did).