That Huffington Post article by Amanda Terkel and Sam Stein on the DNC's reluctance to include marriage equality in the party's platform has reignited the marriage debate.
Greg Sargent gets to the crux of the problem facing the Obama campaign:
It seems clear that Dems will have little choice but to place a clear and unequivocal declaration of support for marriage equality in the party platform this fall. How the party will square that with Obama’s evolving position on the issue is less clear. On the other hand, if the party doesn’t place language in the platform, gay advocates will feel angry and betrayed eight weeks before the election. So this issue is coming to a head no matter what.That's what we've been telling trying to explain to the White House and Obama campaign via this blog for a long time (not that we'd expect any of the geniuses running the campaign to heed our advice.)
Greg also talked to Richard Socarides:
“There is no reason for delay,” Socarides told me. “This is an issue that everybody knew would come before the platform committee at least since last June, when we passed marriage equality in New York. The Democratic Party needs to stand for full equality for LGBT Americans. There shouldn’t be any issue or discussion over whether the Democratic party supports full equality.”Exactly.
“Either you’re for full equality or you’re not,” he added. “Any Democrat who thinks we can finesse this as a party this year is delusional.”
This isn't a question of whether most LGBT voters are going to abandon Obama. The Republicans hate us. We get that. But, there is the question of enthusiasm -- not just from the LGBT community, but from our friends and allies, particularly young voters.
It's hard to envision how the President is going to say he opposes same-sex marriage in one of the Presidential debates this fall -- and there will be a question about marriage. First, no one will believe him. That "evolving" talking point will be so old and tired, it won't be plausible.mSecond, it's not going to motivate anyone to make that last donation or get up early to do another canvass.
“Either you’re for full equality or you’re not,” so just evolve already. It will make every thing so much easier.
