While Obama had previously dragged his feet on this specific issue, his rationale for taking a stand now is he has "calculated that the benefits of responding to his base outweigh the risks of upsetting conservatives who wouldn’t be voting for him anyway."
Republicans were expected to rise up in opposition, but aside from Huckaby's reaction that the president's decision was “utterly inexplicable,” most Republican reactions were fairly mild if they reacted at all. Is it truly because, as the Times says, gay marriage is no longer a conservative issue? Is the media just not asking the right tough questions to draw out clear answers? Or are we back to the assumption that even now after Obama has taken a stand on an issue that no one really wants to discuss the issues?
I also found that article interesting. I'm very skeptical of its assertion that gay marriage may no longer be a potent issue, but the fact that Repubicans have not reacted strongly and that there has been no public outcry does seem to indicate lessening tensions over the issue.
ReplyDeleteOr, Republicans are waiting for a more oportune time (i.e. closer to elections) to raise their collective voice about the issue. Perhaps as a result, the media will simply wait until politicians make it a bigger issue to cover it. If this is the case, then the media is following the Watergate example set by the majority of newspapers, not the Washington Post: wait for it to be a big deal, then make it an even bigger one.
Do you think this article is in accordance with political candidates still not voicing their opinions on the issues, since Obama is president, not just a candidate? Or does this show a fundamental change in pre-election strategies?
ReplyDeleteI bet that as the contest for the Republican presidential nomination gets going, they'll talk more about this. States like Iowa and South Carolina are full of social conservatives who eat this up.
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