Day: May 9, 2012

Obama Endorses Marriage Equality

Jon Ponder

Update from Trish: Obama sent this email message to further amplify his thoughts on the subject:

Today, I was asked a direct question and gave a direct answer:

I believe that same-sex couples should be allowed to marry.

I’ve always believed that gay and lesbian Americans should be treated fairly and equally. I was reluctant to use the term marriage because of the very powerful traditions it evokes. And I thought civil union laws that conferred legal rights upon gay and lesbian couples were a solution.

But over the course of several years I’ve talked to friends and family about this. I’ve thought about members of my staff in long-term, committed, same-sex relationships who are raising kids together. Through our efforts to end the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, I’ve gotten to know some of the gay and lesbian troops who are serving our country with honor and distinction.

What I’ve come to realize is that for loving, same-sex couples, the denial of marriage equality means that, in their eyes and the eyes of their children, they are still considered less than full citizens.

Even at my own dinner table, when I look at Sasha and Malia, who have friends whose parents are same-sex couples, I know it wouldn’t dawn on them that their friends’ parents should be treated differently.

So I decided it was time to affirm my personal belief that same-sex couples should be allowed to marry.

I respect the beliefs of others, and the right of religious institutions to act in accordance with their own doctrines. But I believe that in the eyes of the law, all Americans should be treated equally. And where states enact same-sex marriage, no federal act should invalidate them.

Swiss Miss? Bachmann is Sworn in as Swiss Citizen

Trish

It’s hard to imagine an American president gushing about the wonders of another country the way Switzerland’s newest citizen, U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, does in this video.

Were the United States to have a conflict with Switzerland, whose side is hypothetical Pres. Bachmann on?

Bachmann took the astounding initiative to become a Swiss citizen for what can only be described as fuzzy reasons. Her husband is Swiss. O.K. Yes, but why would someone who ran for president of the United States so recently that she still hasn’t paid off her campaign debts decide to be a citizen of a whole other country?

The move raises even more questions than being born in Hawaii (Obama) or Panama (McCain). For starters, to which country is her allegiance? Were the United States to have a conflict with Switzerland, whose side is hypothetical Pres. Bachmann on?

[…]

Romney’s Blunders Keep On Coming, And Yet Coverage of His Campaign Has Become More Positive and His Poll Numbers Have Improved

Jon Ponder

“Everything changes,” Romney adviser Eric Fehrnstrom famously said on CNN in March. “It’s almost like an Etch A Sketch. You can kind of shake it up and restart all over again.”

Fehrnstrom’s gaffe resonated because it fed into the public’s perception that Mitt Romney is a flip-flopper who changes his views to match those of whatever constituency he’s trying to woo. But Ferhnstrom was actually referring to the pivot, a routine campaign dynamic in which candidates who win primaries retool their messaging to appeal to moderate swing voters whose votes usually decide elections.

It got lost in the controversy over Fehrnstrom’s Etch A Sketch gaffe but candidates, especially presidential candidates, cannot execute the pivot on their own. What Ferhnstrom and the reporters covering his gaffe knew was that Romney would have help erasing his primary bungles from the very reporters who were tittering over Ferhnstrom’s unintentional truth-telling.

But why could Romney and Ferhnstrom feel they could rely on supposedly objective reporters to help them rewrite the history of the 2012 Republican primary? […]