Wednesday, November 22, 2006

"Don't Bet on Barack"

I really appreciate this opinion piece posted on The Advocate's website. I had been feeling anxious and left out of all the "Obama '08" rhetoric because of his position on same sex marriage (namely, that he opposes it). An excerpt from the Advocate article:
“I was reminded that it is my obligation not only as an elected official in a pluralistic society, but also as a Christian, to remain open to the possibility that my unwillingness to support gay marriage is misguided,” Obama wrote in his recent memoir, The Audacity of Hope.

But Obama’s audacity is not only his unwillingness to support the issue, but also his misunderstanding and misuse of the term “gay marriage.” The terminology “gay marriage” not only stigmatizes and stymies our efforts for marriage equality, but it also suggests that LGBT people’s marriages are or would be wholly different from those of heterosexuals, thus altering its landscape, if not annihilating the institution of marriage entirely.

I'm already so nervous about '08. If my options are Barack, who opposes marriage equality, and Hillary, who (let's be realistic) doesn't have a prayer against McCain... lordy, I just don't know. Anyone more politically savvy want to weigh in? And maybe make me feel better?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hate your handicap! But mine, if correct, may give you comfort.

Barack is too young, too callow. Even he knows. What you hear is pre-positioning. Electing the first black POTUS demands a leap of faith that remains elusive in racist America. Barack has no time to lose.

Neither do Democrats. Although they are not ready to nominate him, their lionization of Barack continues a tradition dating to JFK. This is the pathology of the party of the oppressed - blacks, Jews, the poor. Who will, finally, be "the one" to uplift and lead us to justice and glory?

Hillary, no Messiah, will nevertheless be the next Democratic nominee. Whether she also becomes President might depend on whether she runs against Senator or Vice-President McCain.

(Bet on this: Iraq gets worse. Bush defies. Democratic reluctance becomes becomes determination to impeach. Cheney resigns "for health reasons." Bush appoints McCain Vice-President in hope of a pardon should the worst come to pass. McCain swings the GOP into the 2008 race with the reassuring momentum of a Vice-President -- or better, should Bush have to resign).

However farfetched, this scenario is the GOP's only hope of holding the office in the wake of the latest election, whose upheaval was so miraculous it has yet to fully sink in.

Remember: new Congress, same Bushie. He is the GOP's Chernobyl, radioactive by association. McCain is already a goner, not because he stands too close to Bush but because he has crawled all the way up his ass. He's an isotope.

Strange, but the Presidency is Hillary's to lose. And I don't think she will, even if she runs against a President (shuuder) McCain. Her slow tilt to the right on Iraq, marriage -- what the hell, probably health-care and chocolate chip cookies -- will come across as maturity.

And she'll get help. Her husband will ladle warm fuzzies over her stereotyped sour persona. Her party, after two decades of fearing, resisting and finally nominating her, will build a ginormous campaign war chest just as they did for her reelection to the Senate.

Oh she'll win, Amanda, just you wait and see. And then you'll see magic, you young'un who has lived her entire life under the curse of the GOP.

In the crucible of war and the near-destruction of our Consitution, Democrats will return to full power sadder, wiser, and yes, more conservative. Its expedent political agenda will gradually give way to the progressive politics that are its soul. You'll see a different Hillary. Obama, too.

Now sleep tight!