First President in US history endorses gay marriage and we don't have a thread on it?

[jasey]

It's great that you can compare Obama and Romney on the issues Daniel posted but where they differ greatly are social issues that are also pretty important to day to day life. Even if Obama did not change his mind to endorse gay marriage, he has always been a supporter of gay couples' rights and gay rights in general. Then we have the issues like abortion, reproductive rights, immigration, health care reform, poverty, minimum wage, job accessibility and welfare. By no means is that a complete list but they are all things a Republican and a Democrat will traditionally disagree on.

Politically, America is playing a game of samesies and has been more and more since the 9/11 attack. The two parties aren't exactly sitting in opposite corners of the huge American political playroom spitting at each other, either. They both want power but there are a thousand things they would do the same. They are not polar opposites and share more values than they do not share. If you were to plot the American Democrats and the American Republicans on a real political compass (please see here), you would notice Barack Obama and Mitt Romney are barely apart at all. You see how they are just a bit apart in the upper right section of the compass? This is not even the standard for every western nation — there are modern nations with major parties that fall in to the opposite 'green' part of the compass, for example. Canada's official opposition (second most powerful) party comes to mind.

I certainly don't think Barack Obama is a great Democrat but because of the lack of political diversity between the Democrats and the Republicans I have never really been particularly attached to any American politican. The only thing that makes me want Obama in for a second term is the way he will likely handle certain social issues in contrast to Romney.

To finish on a bit of a move in topic, I definitely acknowledge that marriage has traditionally between a man and a woman. In times past, marriage was traditionally only between a man and a woman of the same race. Seal and Heidi Klum? They had a pretty nice marriage and they gave it a good shot for a long time. Regardless, they would have been refused at pretty much any altar a century ago. It would be out of the question for the two to marry and struck down immediately. It wouldn't have been a shock to find out Seal had a bullet put in his head for trying to marry Klum. The beautiful, wonderful 'traditional' form of marriage you speak of also didn't come with the huge social and economic benefits marriage comes with as well. Those are a modern ammendment to marriage as is the right for a homosexual couple to marry.

It doesn't destroy the santicty of the term at all. We can list a thousand celebrity couples (and tens of thousands more of regular couples if we had access to their private lives) who got married as a man and a woman and pretty much made a joke out of it. No one is passing bans on Vegas quickies and weddings sponsored by your favourite multinational corporation. If you need further evidence, look to one of the many countries where gay marriage — not a 'civil union' — is fully legal. Is Canada ripping apart at the seams? Are Canadian social values gone to the wind and is the country now a brothel of debauchery and terrible disrespect? Not as far as anyone can tell. Did I mention Canada has a majority Conservative government at the moment?

Either gay marriage and conservative values can coexist or some weird magic rainbow radiation is making the Canadians all kooky and willing to accept crazy stuff! Cheers for your statement, Obama, no matter if it was a political move or just something you really believe. You gave people hope.

[GommeInc]

I hate American politics, it's just a hodge-podge of pageantry and how else to waste money and cause upheaval. I think the problem is the American view of politics on the world stage as they seem to think they are the leaders of democracy and freedom when they're not, and they are annoyingly arrogant and deluded with these ideas. I think we should just force them to be a colony of the UK again, strip them all of their adult costumes and put them back in baby clothes, they're still not ready - I think the majority of the world would agree with this.

As for the matter at hand - it's just words. Obama has famously backed 'traditional' marriage and this sudden change of heart seems to just be there to win votes, considering how close to the elections they are over there. There needs to be extra convincing that he means them, while at the same time not force his views on the states which have already voted against equal marriage.

[dbgtz]

Sorry for double post but just gonna leave this here...

Obama: Sends drone strikes throughout Yemen, killing innocent civilians.
Obama: Sends drone strikes throughout Pakistan, killing innocent civilians.
Obama: Sends drone strikes throughout Somalia, killing innocent civilians.
Obama: Sends drone strikes throughout Afghanistan, killing innocent civilians.
Obama: Sends drone strikes throughout Iraq, killing innocent civilians.
Obama: Puts crippling trade sanctions on Iran to provoke another war, similar to events leading up to Pearl Harbor.
Obama: Signs NDAA, which allows for the indefinite detainment of US citizens on US soil, without a trial or charges.
Obama: Specifically instructs Congressional Committee writing 2012 NDAA to expand the aforementioned powers in the bill.
Obama: Expands and appoints executive agencies to bypass Congress and extend the powers of the executive branch even more than Bush.
Obama: Uses millions of tax dollars for personal vacations.
Obama: Assassinates two American citizens, one being only sixteen years old, without any due process.
Obama: Campaigns on closing Guantanamo Bay. Doesn't close Guantanamo Bay.
Obama: Calls for the arrest of alleged whistle-blower PFC Bradley Manning for allegedly leaking video footage of American soldiers killing Iraqi civilians ruthlessly and illegally.
Obama: Campaigns on transparency in government. Denies more FOIA requests than all previous administrations combined.
Obama: Speaks out against money in politics. Receives more money from Wall Street than any politician in history.
Obama: Endorses the torture of aforementioned Bradley Manning for eighteen months at Quantico before he's even charged with a crime.
Obama: Calls for excessive Pell grants, which inflate the price of college tuition for everyone.
Obama: Says he will not sign ACTA. Signs ACTA.
Obama: Signs the NDRP Act, allowing for the nationalization of any natural resource, product, factory, industry, business, or property on american soil in peacetime.
Obama: Announces end of American occupation of Iraq. Leaves 10,000 troops in Iraq.
Obama: Says he supports gay marriage.
Teens, "liberal" bloggers, and other people who don't read: WOO VOTE OBAMA

Something that is irrelevant but you remind me of it and it still frustrates me.


Anyway in my books he's only reinforcing this now just to get votes. I mean, if it is him v Romney then it's likely Obama will win again purely because of his image compared to Romney, which it probably shouldn't be the reason but what can you do, most voters are idiots.