Top comment on reddit right now:
Obama stepped out and supported gay marriage. Now we have to step out and support him. For every independent and conservative vote he just lost, we need to make up for it with an independent or progressive vote.
I am fucking serious as fuck right now. Please don't think this was easy for him. You're going to have to get out there and vote in November, or this doesn't mean shit.
This wasn't easy for him? Really? Look at you, look at how many upvotes you're getting. The entire liberal base is rallied now. All the bigots who are upset by this were never going to vote for him anyway. What few right wing responses there have been so far have all been laughingstocks. The latest polls now show that half the country supports same sex marriage. This was a brilliant political move, and Obama knew exactly what he was doing. He chose to drop this one day after Amendment 1 passed in North Carolina (which banned same sex marriages in the state constitution). When progressives were crushed and defeated, he jumped at the opportunity and rode the momentum. So it's really not much different from the DADT repeal. He rode the momentum that was building and took some of the credit, but it's not like he ever fought terribly hard for it. And this isn't even a new tactic, the history of the civil rights movement is filled with examples of shithead politicians abusing this slow and sorry process.
This is a huge thing, but it shouldn't be. There is no logical reason why anyone could oppose same sex marriage. One just doesn't exist, all the "arguments" against it have been dismantled time and time again, and the debate is over. If you are a Democrat, I expect you to support it. Obama has been in office for nearly three and a half years, and it took him this long. He could've done it during the seemingly neverending string of suicides by gay teens in the media, to maybe give bullied kids a little support. He could've done it when the "It gets better" campaign first kicked off. He could've done it during the DADT repeal. No. We had to wait for his views on gay marriage to "evolve." That was his word. He was "evolving." So basically, "put your freedom on hold until I decide it's politically expedient to get my shit together." Meanwhile, war criminal Dick Cheney came out in support of same sex marriage years ago, as well as the entire democratic base well before him.
This was political. Whenever I, or any other responses I've been reading, point this out to people on the internet, it's like they just shut down and get personally offended. It all mostly boils down to, "Why can't you be happy? Stop thinking about so many things and stuff just be happy." Alright, cool. If you can accept the fact that Barack Obama has been lying about his real views for years, that he has waiting until the right opportunity to present them so he could score easy political points -- and you are totally okay with that -- then cool. Just don't pretend to be shocked or angry when some people go and point out that this is nothing more than politics, okay? Just because we're criticizing doesn't mean we don't think this is awesome. This is a huge step. But it's not enough. He could've done so much more. This battle hasn't even started, so stop treating this like we won a marathon. We need to keep kicking him. Obama affirmed that he still thinks this is a states' rights issue. So it's not like he's actually going to do anything. All 44 states that don't allow marriage equality are perfectly within their rights to practice discrimination, and this is just fine with Barack Obama.
I'm reminded of a relevant line of lyrics from The Coup, from their song "Underdogs" -- "They'd tear this motherfucker up if they really loved you." By "They," Boots is referring to people who give support in the form of empty words. And it's true. Those people would tear shit up if they actually gave a damn about the oppressed. By going halfway, Obama chose to enshrine yet another human rights issue into the horrifying history of "states rights." Abortion bans. Interracial marriage. Segregation. Human slavery. If the Democratic party ever wants to regain any shred of decency, it needs to start standing up for things it claims to believe in, at the risk of losing elections. There's a sleeping leftist movement in America with no one to have faith in. This president could've been a leader. He chose to play politics like all the rest.
To close, I'm going to leave you with this inspiring video filled with people who have actually have the balls to fight for human rights. And also, the final line of "Underdogs" -- "I'll tear this motherfucker up since I really love you."
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