Campaign Trail News

Democrats Waste No Time Capitalizing on Obama's Gay-Marriage Position

DCCC Page Asks Voters to Stand With President

By: Ken Wheaton

This afternoon, President Barack Obama revealed that he now supports same-sex marriage. This was dubbed by some (including the president) as an "evolution" and others as a flip-flop as Mr. Obama supported same-sex marriage way back in 1996.

Whatever the case, it took less than an hour for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee to update its site to grab the names and contact information of all those people giddy with excitement over this change.

It reads:

Stand With President Obama in Support of Marriage Equality

President Obama has announced that he supports marriage equality for all Americans.

Now we're facing a critical moment. We must show that the American people stand behind the President and support extending the rights and responsibilities of marriage to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans.

In a couple of days, of course, anyone who fills out the form will receive requests for donation.

There will be rivers of ink spilled and thousands of pixels piled up as people rush to write what Mr. Obama's new position means from a campaign-marketing angle. Who knows? Even I might find some time to ponder it.

But my initial response, cynical as it might be, is that come November Republicans are going to vote Republican and Democrats will vote Democrat when it comes to the presidential race. The LGBT community will be less inclined to sit out the election (as some had been threatening), but any gains there will be offset by equally energized evangelicals and others threatened by even the thought of same-sex marriage. There will be no massive defection of African-American social conservatives to Mitt Romney. Or of libertarian-minded Republicans to Barack Obama. And independents will be basing their decisions on economic issues rather than social issues.

That said, Mr. Obama's position could cause some issues down-ticket for Democrats in red and purple states, perhaps even in some blue states. We shall see.