President Obama on Marriage: Still Evolving

LC NY Bureau Chief Doug alerted me to this New York Times article on President Obama's views on marriage equality.  He reminds of William Hurt's character in The Big Chill who declared "I was evolving.  I'm still evolving."  This week, the President will headline a $1250 a plate dinner called "Gala With the Gay Community" and on June 29, he will host a gay pride celebration at the White House.  This gives him two golden opportunities to announce that he's evolved to what I have always suspected to be his personal position:  full marriage equality.  You can read the article here.       

Americans Still Blame Bush

Interesting results from a recent NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll.  6 in 10 American still hold George Bush more accountable for the economic problems than President Obama.  According to conservative columnist Ross Douthat:

"The numbers he’s talking about show that 62 percent of Americans still call the current economic picture 'a situation Obama inherited,' and only 25 percent call it a situation that the president’s policies are “mostly responsible for.”

This should be sobering news for a GOP presidential field that is running on Bushenomics on steriods; doubling down on slashing taxes and social services, refusing to raise revenue, and blaming everything on President Obama.             

Via Andrew Sullivan

From Whitehouse.gov

Imagine you're a gay kid in Edgefield , SC or Olney, IL or Gadsden, AL and you go the the President's web site and see this:

This is huge. 

The LGBT page also includes this powerful It Gets Better video:

Obama to Campaign Hard in Texas

It looks like the President's El Paso speech was just the beginning.  From The New Republic:

"President Barack Obama’s campaign is heeding the political siren song of Texas, telling supporters he hopes to make a real effort in a state where the growing Hispanic electorate has long raised — then dashed — Democratic hopes.


Obama’s 2012 campaign manager, Jim Messina, speaking to big-money Lone Star State Democrats at closed-door meetings in Austin and Dallas in March, predicted Obama could make a “serious play” in the cornerstone of GOP presidential politics, according to people in attendance."

Certainly, it remains extremely difficult for a Democratic Presidential candidate to carry Texas, but a strong effort by President Obama would constitute smart strategic planning.  Texas is the 2nd most populous state, and demographics are trending purple.  Imagine.  California, New York, and Illinois are already deep blue and Florida is purple.  Adding an up-for-grabs Texas to the mix would mean that none of the five biggest states are solidly Republican.  Long-term trends are looking very sketchy for the GOP. 

President's Long Form Birth Certificate Released

The White House has released President Obama's his long form birth certificate, complete with the signatures of his mother, the doctor, and the registrar.  He released his Certificate of Live Birth in 2008, but birthers claimed that only his magical long form certificate could put to rest questions of his birth place.  There's a billboard on Central Expressway in Dallas that says "Where's the Birth Certificate?"  Well, here it is.  I'm sure this will satisfy the birthers and they will all admit that he was in fact born in Hawaii.  The billboard will come right down and all those birther bills in various states will be withdrawn because the question is settled, right?  Don't bet on it.

"It Begins With Us"

Obama 2012 has been launched:

Huge Day for Marriage Equality!

This is big news.  Attorney General Eric Holder announced today that the U.S. Government will no longer defend that damnable "Defense of Marriage" Act in court:

"After careful consideration, including a review of my recommendation, the President has concluded that given a number of factors, including a documented history of discrimination, classifications based on sexual orientation should be subject to a more heightened standard of scrutiny. The President has also concluded that Section 3 of DOMA, as applied to legally married same-sex couples, fails to meet that standard and is therefore unconstitutional. Given that conclusion, the President has instructed the Department not to defend the statute in such cases. I fully concur with the President’s determination.


Consequently, the Department will not defend the constitutionality of Section 3 of DOMA as applied to same-sex married couples in the two cases filed in the Second Circuit. We will, however, remain parties to the cases and continue to represent the interests of the United States throughout the litigation. I have informed Members of Congress of this decision, so Members who wish to defend the statute may pursue that option. The Department will also work closely with the courts to ensure that Congress has a full and fair opportunity to participate in pending litigation.
Furthermore, pursuant to the President's instructions, and upon further notification to Congress, I will instruct Department attorneys to advise courts in other pending DOMA litigation of the President's and my conclusions that a heightened standard should apply, that Section 3 is unconstitutional under that standard and that the Department will cease defense of Section 3."

The cases of Pedersen v. OPM and Windsor v. United States will still continue, and their futures are quite uncertain.  DOMA is still the law of the land, but clearly the clock is ticking.  We may be a long way from seeing it swept into the dustbin of history along with NOM, FRC, and the other hate groups that trade in fear and ignorance of gays.  However, this is a significant day, not least because the President of the United States has recognized that championing our issues can be politically advantageous.  We may have crossed a threshold so that gay rights issues are a positive for Democrats and an embarrassment for the GOP.  It's the Republicans who were put on the offensive today. 

Also on this day, Prop 8 opponents asked the California Supreme Court to drop the stay on allowing gays to marry in the Golden State.  California Senator Feinstein vowed to introduce a bill to repeal DOMA.  Governor Abercrombie signed Hawaii's new civil unions bill, giving many new legal rights to gay couples in the Aloha State.  Finally, the Maryland Senate gave initial approval to a marriage equality bill.  All that was just today!  What's up for tomorrow?!?     

President Obama on Mubarak Resignation

I believe the Obama administration has been brilliant throughout these momentous events. 

Quote of the Day

"Our troops come from every corner of this country – they are black, white, Latino, Asian and Native American. They are Christian and Hindu, Jewish and Muslim. And, yes, we know that some of them are gay. Starting this year, no American will be forbidden from serving the country they love because of who they love. And with that change, I call on all of our college campuses to open their doors to our military recruiters and the ROTC. It is time to leave behind the divisive battles of the past. It is time to move forward as one nation."

--President Obama in tonight's State of the Union Address.  Significant, although it was the only mention of any gay issue in the speech.  Here are a few other points:

There was a great deal of talk about competitiveness.  "The future is ours to win."  "We need to out-innovate, out-educate, and out build the rest of the world."  "This is our Sputnik moment."  Competitiveness was the over-arching theme of the speech.     

"Eliminate the billions in tax dollars currently given to oil companies."  Great words.  Never happen.

Simplify the tax code.  Everyone agrees.  Never happen.

He's open to ideas to make health care reform better.  He hit on the advantages of the new law and did a pretty decent job of defending it.  Boehner looks constipated.

He called for medical malpractice reform.  Really?  How very Rick Perry 2003 of him. 

He called for a freeze on "annual domestic spending" for five years.  Gimmick.  Never happen. 

"I will veto any bill with earmarks."  I've got to hand it to the President.  He knows how to get ahead of a Republican issue.  This one brought a standing ovation from Sen. McCain. 

"American Muslims are a part of our American family."  It needed to be said and took some guts.

"This July we will begin to bring our troops home from Afghanistan."  Like they're home from Iraq?

The President is a master at saying things that Republicans have to applaud, whether they like it or not.  I was impressed that Republicans and Democrats sat together.  According to Rachel Maddow, the bipartisan Congressional Women's Softball Team sat together.  Naturally, she noted that.

Basically, the speech can be summed up as follows:  we're going to compete, resolve the deficit, kill the terrorists, and come home from Afghanistan.  I don't exactly know how we're going to do all of those things, but they sounded great.