An Idea That Was Coming

I would be remiss if I didn't talk about the big news item of the day...That , (taking his cue from Vice President Joe Biden), President Barack Obama came out on the side of Same Sex Marriages...Even as that progressive state of North Carolina voted to ban same -sex marriages and all domestic partnerships...straight or gay!

Seriously...Gay marriage is not the hot button issue it was maybe ten years ago..most Americans are changing their viewpoints on it anyway...So while the bible and gun toting holier than thou crowd that has become the Republican/Tea Party will try to use this to bash him over the head...The truth is...I don't think this will hurt him much amongst perspective voters.

President Barack Obama endorsed the right of same-sex couples to marry , a landmark pronouncement made in light of mounting pressure from gay rights advocates. President Obama became the first U.S. president to back the right of gay and lesbian couples to marry, a reversal from views expressed during the 2008 campaign, when he said he opposed same-sex marriage but favored civil unions as an alternative.
Then he was taking the safe route..

President Obama told reporters in the White House  that, after reflection, he had "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.

In making his announcement,  The President completes what he had described as an “evolution” in his views on this issue, hastened by growing fervor this week involving gay rights. The growing pressure was capped Tuesday by North Carolina voters’ approval of a constitutional amendment banning not only same-sex marriages, but civil unions for gay and lesbian couples, as well.

 President Obama’s shift not only speaks to a broad swath of the electorate, which has exhibited increasing acceptance of same-sex marriage in opinion polls, but also gay and lesbian voters who compose a core part of his base, and have been major fundraisers for his re-election.

The President explained that he had hesitated in fully supporting same-sex marriage because he thought civil unions would be sufficient.

"I have to tell you that over the course of several years as I have talked to friends and family and neighbors when I think about members of my own staff who are in incredibly committed monogamous relationships, same-sex relationships, who are raising kids together, when I think about those soldiers or airmen or marines or sailors who are out there fighting on my behalf and yet feel constrained, even now that 'Don't Ask Don't Tell' is gone, because they are not able to commit themselves in a marriage, 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," he told ABC News.   I can imagine that the talking heads on Fox News are in a frenzy right now.

The president had found himself under increasing pressure this week to state his position unequivocally after Vice President Joe Biden voiced support for same-sex marriage.
"I am absolutely comfortable with the fact that men marrying men, women marrying women, and heterosexual men and women marrying another are entitled to the same exact rights, all the civil rights, all the civil liberties," Biden said on NBC’s "Meet the Press." "And quite frankly, I don't see much of a distinction beyond that."

While history will be the judge of whether they both are doing the right thing....Current events may prove that this could be politically disasterous ...or not..  Like I said...It's not the hot button issue it was ten years ago or even four years ago...but you can bet your bottom dollar that the Right Wing will make sure that it becomes one.

Speaking of which...The President's most likely opponent this fall,  GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney re-iterated his opposition to both same-sex marriage and civil unions on Tuesday.

"I have the same view on marriage that I had when I was governor and that I've expressed many times," he said following the president's announcement. "I believe marriage is a relationship between a man and a woman."

Earlier, he told KDVR-TV in Denver: "I do not favor marriage between people of the same gender, and I do not favor civil unions if they are identical to marriage other than by name ... My view is the domestic partnership benefits, hospital visitation rights, and the like are appropriate but that the others are not."

Hmmm, Like I said.. History will decide one day who was on the right side of this issue....As for me?  I feel as though, this was an idea that was coming down the pike anyway...Just like inter-racial marriage back in the 60's.