Never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never, never–in nothing, great or small, large or petty–never give in, except to convictions of honor and good sense. Never yield to force. Never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.
– Winston Churchill
I’m glad everyone’s so happy about Obama backing marriage equality. Seems like the least he could do, of course, what with being a Democrat and this being a civil rights issue. But there’s so little we can take for granted these days when it comes to our own party. Democrats used to support public education, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and were against imperial wars — so you can see why I’m confused.
Really, supporting gay marriage – but then saying of course it should be up to the states to decide – well, as I said earlier, imagine if Lyndon Johnson said something similar about the Civil Rights Act. Some things, you just do because they’re so obviously right, and you don’t hedge or split the difference.
When Obama won the nomination, I confessed how depressing it was to a black friend. “The job of a progressive isn’t to win elections,” he advised me. “Our job is to keep pushing the discussion to the left.” I took that to heart. My job is not to be Obama’s cheering section. It’s to keep pushing for the rights of us all, the dignity of decent education, jobs and health care. For once, Obama kinda-sorta did the right thing.
But tomorrow’s another day, and the man is still pushing to get his Grand Bargain and to cut Social Security and Medicare. Enjoy this moment, but get ready to fight on. Because the Very Serious People are piling on:
(At the risk of sounding like a scratched record)
I highly recommend the book “Democrats – A critical history” by Lance Selfa. Democrats have never been anti-war or economic populists.Or even civil rights champions. Lesser evil all right, but real populists they are not. FDR, forced to save capitalism from the rioting commies,pinkos, socialists and hippies, had to start SS, unemployment benefits etc.
Here is a review by Paul Street :
http://www.zcommunications.org/hope-killers-by-paul-street
Reading that book cures us of the illusions about the Dems.
Was it because the wealthy gay donors went on a donor strike? That is my guess. Especially considering Obama is a conservative and likes to follow “traditions” (like “we have a tradition of not funding abortion in this country”). Anyways, credit where it is due.
Meanwhile the Dems’ war on women under the radar :
http://www.rhrealitycheck.org/article/2012/04/30/he-men-virginity-pledges-and-bridal-dreams-an-hhs-endorsed-curriculum
“Up to the states to decide” ? ?? What? I don’t actually listen to MSM news so I missed that little coda. Given that it’s B0, it’s in character, unlike the original statement.
As g3 says, interesting that women are a constituency that never needs a sop thrown to it. But that’s a tiny minority, so it makes sense.
Most of what you see around the web is women saying, “ZOMG! We must must must vote for Obama no matter what because Republicans say crazee crap!” It’s enough to think Obama pays them to help his campaign.