Obama’s Views on Gay Marriage ‘Evolving’- Looking For Way To Support Same Sex Marriage.

[KittyWampus]

Funny thing- Howard Dean was a "states rights" kind of guy when it came to Gay Marriage and running for POTUS. And many, many liberals support him and his evolution on this issue.

Huffington Post posted this SAME story put no one seems to acknowledge that Obama IS EVOLVING JUST THE WAY DEAN DID. This is clearly written in the NYTimes story posted below.

Seems convenient to leave that out when posting the HuffPost version.

Obama’s Views on Gay Marriage ‘Evolving’
By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG
Published: June 18, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/19/us/politics/19marriage.html?_r=2&hp


Now President Obama says his views on same-sex marriage are “evolving,” and as he runs for re-election he is seeking support from gay donors who want to know where he stands.

snip

The White House would not comment on whether Mr. Obama was ready to endorse same-sex marriage. But one Democratic strategist close to the White House, speaking only on the condition of anonymity, said some senior advisers “are looking at the tactics of how this might be done if the president chose to do it.”

And Representative Barney Frank, a Massachusetts Democrat who is gay, said in an interview that a top adviser to Mr. Obama, whom he would not name, asked him this year, “What would be the effect if he came out for same-sex marriage?”

snip

Many gay leaders say because the president has a strong record on issues they care about — prodding Congress to repeal the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, which barred openly gay men and lesbians from serving in the military, and withdrawing legal support for the Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage as between a man and a woman — he is not under intense pressure to announce a change in his position before the 2012 election.

But with the political climate around gay rights changing drastically — a handful of recent polls show that Americans, by a slim majority, now support same-sex marriage — some strategists see little political cost to a shift in position......
snip

[KittyWampus]

1. Strange, DU'ers are flocking to the Huff Post thread which ripped this article off

[Unvanguard]

2. 2004 is not 2008, and 2008 is not 2011.

It's past time for the President to finish "evolving"--as Howard Dean already has.

[KittyWampus]

3. So you didn't even read the article? Nothing to comment on the actual content?

And it's easy to "evolve" when you don't hold elective office.

[Unvanguard]

Um, I read the article several days ago when the New York Times published it.

You're right that it's easy to evolve when you don't hold elective office. And I give Obama more slack than I give people outside of elective office, who I expect to support marriage equality right now and without qualification, and would since 2004 at the latest. But in a country where repeated polling reports majorities for same-sex marriage and Obama's own administration has essentially concluded (without quite coming out and saying it) that same-sex marriage bans are unconstitutional, Obama's position is internally incoherent and not justifiable by political considerations. Enough already: enough with the absurd evasions, enough with the bizarre convoluted reasoning, enough with the desperate attempts to explain away his 1996 questionnaire, enough with the dithering over a basic issue of equality. There is no good reason for Obama to not support marriage equality--right now.

[Unvanguard]

7. Duplicate. n/t

[nichomachus]

4. He's not "evolving." He's "revolving."

[KittyWampus]

5. aw, how clever. Any actual comments on the contents of the article?

[nichomachus]

8. It's crap

how's that. He's being two clever by half and playing both ends against the middle. He either lied in 1996 or he's lying now. As he's just a self-serving politician, it could be both.

[KittyWampus]

9. So, you don't CARE if he's working on "evolving". You just prefer to attack him.

Typical of DU, for the most part.

Although if you really cared about the Issue referenced here, one would think you'd be encouraging Obama's movement toward supporting Gay Marriage.

The questionnaire bullshit only re-arose because of some agitator looking to cause grief. And good for him, if that's what some activists want to do, it's their right. But if you read the article and paid any attention, a staffer probably filled out that form and the article posted in the OP says Obama probably signed off on it thinking it referred to Civil Union.

[muffin1]

13. More like "revolting" nt

[Scuba]

6. It's not hard Barack, you say "I support same sex marriage".

[markpkessinger]

10. What he is looking for is how to avoid the political risk of taking a firm stand n/t

[KittyWampus]

11. So it's more important to attack him then acknowledge his progress

and urging him to keep going?

Because that's all you are doing and it has ZERO political use in any positive terms.

[RKP5637]

12. Thanks for posting this, interesting article. His views seem to center on religion. It's

always been my feeling that America could have been a far better country throughout the years with less focus on religion which to me has been very diversionary in this country.

That said, I hope he endorses the civil right for gay marriage. It's not like the world is going to end tomorrow if he were to ...

IMO trampling on anyones civil rights in this country tramples on us all. It's strange. Hate groups, far out political groups, hate mongers all get equal rights, but when it comes to gay, well, then discrimination is OK. And that brings me back to my point about religion and well, bigotry.

The US is often a strange F'ed up place IMO for all of its constant bragging about freedom, equality and no persecution. Millions of people are persecuted in this county and each person/group suffers their own hell often hidden from the public. Not as bad as other countries, but we could do better based on what we profess to be.

[bluestateguy]

14. More like the polls are evolving in our direction and Obama is following

and if that's what it takes then so be it.

[RKP5637]

15. Excellent points!!! Agree!!! n/t

[demmiblue]

18. I think that it is about the polls, as well. n/t

[City Lights]

16. Just do it. nt

[MadHound]

17. Of course he is "evolving", there is an election coming up,

And he needs the money and votes of the LGBT community. The true measure of how much he has "evolved" will only come after the election. I suspect that if he wins, then the issue of DOMA will be dropped like a hot potato.

[RKP5637]

19. Yeah, sadly I concur with you. n/t