Obama to Rick Warren: Drop Dead
As often happens, there is an event in the news and the prognosticators come out for analysis, and I sit back and roll my eyes because not a single one of them actually gets it right. This is true of the reportedly blockbuster event of yesterday, wherein President Barack Obama went on the television and made his mouth actually form the words in public that he believes in marriage equality.
I think the event is both incredibly mundane and insignificant in the light where people are stating this to be a historic event. However, there are darker, deeper nooks and crannies where this event presents itself as downright awesome.
The reason I find this to be mundane where so many people are filled with shock and awe is that this administration has been in the habit of letting its policies speak for its stance on the general issue of equality for teh gheys. This administration has managed to make the armed forces a reasonable working environment regardless of orientation by striking down DADT, one of the silliest policies that has ever been established, thank you Bill Clinton. He signed hate crimes legislation, he…well, here, go look for yourself.
In that light, I think the guy going on TV and saying that is pretty insignificant. Of course, we live in an era when going on TV and saying things is like the most important thing you can do. So of course Obama going on TV and saying this eclipses years of progress on the issue via actual policy in most peoples’ minds. In that light, however, this statement is actually pretty mundane.
However.
Remember in 2008, when Obama was running for President, and he was required to go have an audience with Rick Warren and kiss Rick Warren’s ring? And Rick Warren was somehow wearing his ring on his ass? So when you were kissing Rick Warren’s ring, you were actually kissing his ass? Remember that? Here’s what Obama told Rick Warren at the time:
The reason that people think there needs to be a constitutional amendment, some people believe, is because of the concern that — about same-sex marriage. I am not somebody who promotes same-sex marriage, but I do believe in civil unions.
This, my friends, is why yesterday’s statement was significant in my opinion. The President is walking back his remarks to Rick Warren. He is telegraphing a significant change about how he’s going to run for office this year versus how he ran in 2008. I think he understands that he does not have to waste his energy this time around trying to lick the asses of superstitious, backwater freaks any longer; that what he needs to do to win is to energize his base. That is why yesterday’s interview was significant. It represents a true tide change in how the President intends to run for office in 2012.
And it is quite welcomed.
