Two Cheers and a Yawn for President Obama

Call me jaded, call me an emotionless robot, but I just can't get overly excited about President Obama coming out (so to speak) in favor of gay marriage.  Don't get me wrong: I think anyone who wants to get married should have the right to do so, and I think the Prez did the right thing by declaring his support for this basic human right.  I'm just not convinced it's that big a deal.

First, I've always more or less assumed--and I suspect I'm not alone in this--that, deep down, President Obama always did believe that gay people should have the right to marry.  Indeed, back when he was just a local Illinois politician, he indicated as much on a questionnaire.  Only when he went national did he promote a more mainstream endorsement of civil unions.  Most people probably believed that Obama was cynically trying to make himself more palatable to middle America, but they overlooked this maneuvering, believing he would ultimately do the right thing with regard to gay civil rights.

Which of course he has.  President Obama has overseen a repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," for example, as well as ordering the Justice Department to stop defending the "Defense of Marriage Act."  These substantive policy decisions have done more for the gay community than the purely symbolic statement that the President believes that gays and lesbians should be able to marry legally.

People say the President took a political risk.  I'm not sure why: People who oppose gay marriage were likely never going to vote for Obama anyway.  True, his statement may anger some members of the black community--particularly black clergy and their devout followers, but are these folks likely to flock to Romney?  And however many people are turned off by this non-change change of heart, I imagine at least as many found it refreshing to hear a politician take a firm, unequivocal position on a controversial social issue.

Indeed, this whole thing may redound to Obama's political advantage.  Mitt Romney, of course, has toed the party line and reaffirmed his opposition to gay marriage.  Personally, I suspect Romney's true feelings, like Obama's, differ somewhat from his public pronouncements.  I don't doubt Mittington's relatively traditional view of marriage--despite his ancestral co-religionists' somewhat more multiple idea of the husband-wives relationship.  I suspect, however, that deep down he really just doesn't care all that much about the issue.  Now, however, his Republican base will demand a full-throated denunciation of Obama's godless liberalism, which will only complicate Romney's attempt to present a more moderate image to the national electorate.

Maybe Romney should just come out in favor of gay marriage, too.  Now THAT would be newsworthy.