The Gotcha Effect of Civil Unions
I'm sounding off on Proposition 8 over at Huffington Post. Here's a taste:
Now that we've all recovered from the jubilation of last week's victory, is it too soon to launch a couple of sober criticisms at our president elect? I did my part to ensure victory, after all. I sent my campaign check. I wept tears of joy into my beer, a Sixpoint "Hop Obama" Ale no less, while watching the acceptance speech. I cheered like a star-stricken tween at the sight of Axelrod....Now, go read the whole damn thing.It shouldn't come as a surprise that Californians voted to overturn same-sex marriage. But it is disheartening that they're getting all the blame. After all, by collectively rubber-stamping the Obama campaign's "politically safe" pro-civil unions stance, democrats were inadvertent enablers.
Consider, for example how unfriendly the Obama camp was to same-sex couples during the Biden/Palin debate:
GWEN IFILL: Let's try to avoid nuance, Senator. Do you support gay marriage?
BIDEN: No. Barack Obama nor I support redefining from a civil side what constitutes marriage.....
PALIN: Your question to him was whether he supported gay marriage and my answer is the same as his and it is that I do not.
IFILL: Wonderful. You agree. On that note, let's move to foreign policy.I don't remember if Palin winked for effect, but I'm assuming she didn't. She'd already knocked it out of the park. This could have been the "gotcha moment" the drooling, caddish pundits had so eagerly awaited. But since America long ago concluded that no candidate in his/her right mind could ever confess to supporting gay marriage, it failed to deliver. Instead, the "gotcha" intended for Biden came at the expense of same-sex couples striving for what the Constitution promises: equal rights.