Waiting For Evolution And Obama's Next "Gutsy Call"

VP Joe Biden seems to break new ground with his support for gay marriage, leaving him waiting at the altar for Obama.

So, the suspense mounts! Will Obama complete his evolution on gay marriage and announce his support in time for the Democratic convention? Or do we have to wait until after the election?

Either way, when Obama finally announces his support Joe Biden will no doubt pronounce it a "gutsy call".

I DO HAVE A CAVEAT: Without seeing a complete transcript I am not so sure what new ground Boden broke. The Times tells us this is the key passage:

“I am absolutely comfortable with the fact that men marrying men, women marrying women and heterosexual men and women marrying one another are entitled to the same exact rights, all the civil rights, all the civil liberties,” Mr. Biden said, while noting that the president, not he, sets policy on such matters.

Lacking the complete context that could be read as support for civil unions. And do keep in mind, the people claiming this is some sort of a Administration breakthrough are the advocates for gay marriage; it may well suit their agenda to pressure Obama by declaring Biden fully evolved. Back to the Times:

The vice president’s comments are likely to intensify pressure on Mr. Obama, who says he is still wrestling with his feelings about same-sex marriage, to take a clearer stance on it before the presidential election this fall, something the White House has shown reluctance to do.

 Mr. Biden’s aides, in insisting that he was not deviating from White House policy, pointed to a 2010 statement by the vice president that the country was moving toward a “national consensus” on same-sex marriage. And in Sunday’s interview, Mr. Biden did not say explicitly that the federal government should recognize it.

But gay rights advocates, who spent Sunday morning parsing Mr. Biden’s words, said the president’s running mate had, in their analysis, conveyed new and unmistakable support for their biggest cause.

 FWIW: ThinkProgress says it is an endorsement, Sully says its not.

Comments

[Jack is Back]

Good Morning JOMO tribal members.

Heterosexual marriage rocks!

[rse]

Well sounds like somebody had a good evening.

OK. I am still getting the kinks out but LUN is my most recent posting. Would love comments and suggestions on where we neophytes can best learn how to do it well.

I am finding eco and pol theory far easier. I just do not have a solid foundation in computerese. I want to practice and get some core explanations up before I start rocking and rolling with some substantil post-book revelations that are natl and intl templates.

Happy Birthday jimmy k.

And good luck to all high schoolers with APs over the next 2 weeks. Red had me up making bacon. Good brain food.

[Necessary and superfluous at once. Therein the durability.]

Luxuriant and exuberant.
==============

[iqvoice]

I guess I could support a gay marriage law... so long as we put a rider on the bill that requires all gay divorce cases to be televised. It will be huge I tell you. Bigger than Queer Eye.

[Soylent Red]

Biden is like that kid you knew in grade school who would do or say anything to be liked. You know- the one who would eat a bug or play in traffic to avoid the ridicule of the rest of the group.

He doesn't think about what he is saying, he just makes sentences until the crowd starts smiling and nodding.

Of course I could be completely mistaken about that. My position is evolving.

[Melinda Romanoff]

Very nice site, rse.

I gotta catch up with these.

[Melinda Romanoff]

Soylent-

I'm starting to believe his aneurysm might actually have caused damage to one of his dozen synapses.

[Lightwave]

It's a trial balloon to see how it plays well with voters. If it goes well, Obama will "evolve". If it doesn't, this issue disappears until 2013 and it's another Biden "gaffe" with plausible deniability.

It will not go well in swing states, I presume. President Pollster will not make that gutsy call, nor will he get the chance to after November.

[Captain Hate]

Is there any evidence that the dumbest sub-primate ever to crawl out of Scranton was able to help El JEFe one iota?

[Jane (Better a crate than a plate)]

Perhaps they could get Hillary Rosen on the job.

Happy Birthday Jimmy and Sara! Have a blast!

[Tom Maguire]

...nor will he get the chance to after November.

Sure, they're hobbled, but lame ducks can evolve too.

[donald]

Columbia Outfitters just opened an outlet store in Locust Grove.

COLUMBIA OUTFITTERS!

[Cecil Turner]

Well, I'm wondering if the gay vote will become the new black vote: fully-owned by the Democrats on the off chance they'll suddenly try to pass some "equality" measure . . . even if that day never actually arrives.

[Janet]

Biden is like that kid you knew in grade school who would do or say anything to be liked.

Totally agree. That is why he was chosen as VP. I also believe that description sums up most of the tax paying, middle class useful idiots that vote Dem.

[centralcal]

Happy Birthday, JimmyK and Sara.

[jimmyk]

while noting that the president, not he, sets policy on such matters.

Where in the Constitution does it give the President ... oh, never mind. Biden.

Thanks, for the birthday wishes.

[rse]

Cecil-my anecdotal experience is that many gay voters are entrepreneurial. They see this Pres as lethal to their business outlooks.

They also seem to find it silly that anyone would see them as a monolithic voting bloc.

Quite a few went historic in 2008 and have regretted it ever since. It's a hard time to have a small business and that identity is also essential to how many see themselves.

[henry]

HB JimmyK and Sara! Nice site rse.

[TexasMom2012]

I cannot imagine that ANY small or medium sized business owner will vote for O after these last few years...

[Porchlight]

IIRC Bush got 40% of the gay vote in 2004 even after betraying Andrew Sullivan with his support of a federal marriage amendment.

[pagar]

Happy Birthday, JimmyK and Sara.

rse, liked what I saw. Would suggest a double surf collar for those saddled with union and Democrat burdens.

I can't imagine why any American who believed in America would vote for Zero.

[sailor]

Well, pagar, there are many Americans who think they believe in America but like the "handouts" better, and they will vote for Zero, I fear.

[centralcal]

Thanks for the link to your website, rse. Looks good.

[Jack is Back]

Happy Birthday jimmyk and Sara.

Is Biden a liability? Doesn't he really drag the One down? Forget October, me thinks there is a late summer surprise coming and Joe won't be part of it (except the voided part). The fact that an Administration apologist and enabler in the form of David "Monsuier" Gregory called him out on his Mitt and OBL remarks is telling.

[Bruce]

FWIW: ThinkProgress says it is an endorsement, Sully says its not.

That may be the point.

How can they play both sides on this issue? The answer, apparently maybe, is for the President to have taken one position, the VP another, and let everyone wonder whether the President is going to evolve or not. That way, they can tell the opponents "You know old Joe, he'll say anything" and the proponents "Joe couldn't have done this if he didn't have the backing of the President"? Which is right? I think that it is intentional that we don't know.

What are President Obama's real feelings here? My guess would be mild opposition, coming from two ethnic groups that oppose homosexuality in general - Blacks and Muslims (not saying that he is the latter, but rather that he was raised to some extent in that culture, though in a much less strict version than we see in, say, Saudi Arabia).

[sailor]

I think it is a mistake for the Republican Party to run or whether or not they--the party--are for gay marriage. IMO, there are much more pressing issues at hand ie no jobs, high gas prices, horrible economic picture, etc., etc.

[sailor]

or=on

[Rick Ballard]

The Dogeater's cultural heritage is Marxism, he's always a Red and only a Black when it serves a Red purpose. Gay marriage serves the commies in the same way that any other vicious behavior destructive to the family does, so we may safely assume that the Dogeater will support it fully, even if in a clandestine manner.

The Dogeater continues to beg for table scraps from the fellow commies who have closed their checkbooks to him in his hour of desperate want. Unfortunately for him, they're just not stupid enough to back a dead dog who won't be around to deliver.

[Extraneus]

Hey, rse, great intro. Btw, shouldn't that be "Serf's"?

HB Sara and Jimmy.

[Tom Maguire]

What are President Obama's real feelings here? My guess would be mild opposition...

Is there any other bit of conventional PC liberal dogma to which Obama does not py lip service?

OK, Gitmo is open and he executes terrorists rather than capture them and deal with where to detain them and how to interrogate them, but by and large he is not my idea of an independent thinker or even a leader on any issue.

[fdcol63]

It's ironic though .... gay support of Dems may secure their marriage rights here, but the foreign policy of the Dems will help the spread of Islamism and sharia into formerly "moderate" Muslim states that will oppress and crush homosexuals there.

[Captain Hate]

Richard Mourdock is on Laura Ingraham; Peggy Noonan's credibility is taking more direct hits. I can't wait to see the end of Arlen Lugarcowski tomorrow.

[MarkO]

TM, Obama's just not that smart.

[Janet]

rse,
Maybe write out Outcome-based education at least with it's first use in every post. If your 3rd post is linked by another blogger, then OBE isn't clear for someone coming there the first time.

I had another thought about taking back our schools after reading Obama's campaign speech at W-L High School. Conservatives, Libertarians, & Greens need to demand equal time.
Kid Pan Alley comes & sings the praises of OWS...then a Patriot singing group should also come.
If "An Inconvenient Truth" is shown....then "Mine Your Own Business" (or a movie questioning AGW) should be shown.
Enough with these Leftist groups taking over our schools.

[henry]

New thread for the rse blog launch.

[Ignatz]

Seems Barry and co would like to talk about anything except how the economy has done under their guidance.

[Danube of Thought]

Minus 16 at Raz today.

Trails Romney by 2.

[Janet]

and rse, Maybe create an "Invisible Serfs Collar" Facebook page. It would make sending out your new posts very easy & make it easy for friends to recommend them & pass them along.

[Appalled]

The president's evolution on gay marriage will always be incomplete so long as he needs a large turnout from the not-particulalry gay friendly afro-american community. Obama needs those black churches saying get out and vote. Which means he will not stomp all over their dogma. Before anyone points out that Obama hs run roughshod over Catholic Church beliefs -- let's remember that Obama is going to have a better feel for what the black church will tolerate over what Catholics will do.

The fact of the matter is that gays vote more like average Americans -- they do not tend to do tribal voting -- and they will not probably change their mind based on a national gay marriage stance. (In any event, the action on that issue is much more local. DOMA repeal is not likely at this point.)

[Rob Crawford]

Before anyone points out that Obama hs run roughshod over Catholic Church beliefs -- let's remember that Obama is going to have a better feel for what the black church will tolerate over what Catholics will do.

Plus, urinating on the Catholics is another way of energizing his base, which tend not to like Catholics.

[Clarice]

I'm with TM on this: " by and large he is not my idea of an independent thinker or even a leader on any issue."
OTOH my impression--correct me if I'm wrong--is that the strongest opponents of gay marriage are black clergy and he desperately needs their support to stay in the game.

[Manuel Transmission]

I've had several opportunities to talk politics with prosperous gays visiting next door. I would say that they will vote their pocketbook as long as we didn't offer up a Santorum-like candidate. Haven't had a chance to get their read on Mitt, but I bet it is much less of a deal in spite of the California fight.

[Jane (Better a crate than a plate)]

I read something recently that 40% of republicans are pro gay marriage. I agree the gays who spend their lives living their lives don't care much what the government does. The activists are a different story entirely - which sort of sounds like every other issue on the planet as well.

[Janet]

There is no such thing as gay marriage. Marriage IS something...it is a word that has a meaning. Two men or two women are not married. They can receive the same benefits & liabilities of married couples & have a new word made to describe their living arrangement...but the word marriage is taken.

I am waiting for the word "minor" to evolve so when I commit a crime, I can be charged as a minor. I am young at heart.
...and I am waiting for the word "African American" to evolve so I can get part of the Pigford settlement. I thought about planting something once.
I should have thought of this when out-of-state tuition was a problem....I could have claimed that it was unfair that only Texans got in-state tuition & I wanted the definition of Texan to evolve to include Virginians.

[peter]

Happy Birthday JimmyK and Sara. It is also the birth anniversary of Gary Cooper.

[Clarice]

Heh, Janet.

[Dave Turson]

I DO HAVE A CAVEAT: Without seeing a complete transcript I am not so sure what new ground Boden broke.

Biden's words show support for gay marriage. Biden is just clumsy on purpose, if you know what I mean -- wink-wink.

Here's the transcript:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/election-2012/post/biden-im-absolutely-comfortable-with-gay-couples-having-same-rights-as-straight-couples/2012/05/06/gIQA59Wg5T_blog.html

[Thomas Collins]

Happy Birthday, jimmyk and sara. And if MayBee ever reappears, I'd wish MayBee a happy birthday, too!

[Frau Steingehirn]

Yes, Happy Birthday twice over for Sara and jimmyk. Hip, hip,hooray!