Obama supporting gay marriage is not ‘brave’
May 9, 2012, 2:50 PM | Updated: Jun 4, 2012, 4:54 pm
Barack Obama became the first sitting president to officially endorse same sex marriage.
And while I congratulate him for publically clarifying a position we all knew he held, I’m not quite ready to label this a “brave” decision.
I don’t believe in coincidence when it comes to politics. Vice President Biden’s remarks, the vote in North Carolina and the president’s challenge amongst young voters are all tied together and part of an overall 2012 electoral strategy. The worry is not that the youth vote will go to Mitt Romney, but rather they will stay home and play X-box come November 6.
Follow me on this. All the data shows that the younger you are, the less opposition you have to same sex marriage. President Obama energized and won the election based on his ability to motivate this constituency. So now that “Hope and Change” has worn off, what will get them fired up this time?
How about the idea that the older generation is trying to engineer an American society in its own image and thwart the evolving beliefs of a majority of its citizens?
That’s right, the chant “We gotta vote for this guy again” will be heard round college campuses and there is very little downside for the president. The religious and/or right-wing voters were never going to vote for him and even the socially conservative black vote won’t support Romney, regardless of the Democratic candidate.
So, the announcement in support of same sex marriage is a calculated part of the Obama 2012 re-election strategy and if you understand electoral politics, a pretty smart one.