Fri, 11/06/2009 - 9:55pm — lambert
Maine voters decisively rejected same-sex marriage yesterday, 53% to 47%. Last November, when California voters overturned gay marriage there, the exit polls indicated that out of the Obama constituencies, overwhelming opposition from African-American (and, to a lesser extent, Hispanic) voters helped tip the balance. This was controversial, to put it mildly. Well, Maine is 97% white, and Obama won it in a landslide, 58%-42%.
What's the common factor?
Well, Obama gave zero -- as in zip, zilch, nada, bupkiss, none -- support in both cases. Nor did the FKDP
establishment. Could that have anything to do with it?
NOTE Oh, yeah, the headline: "Can't Blame Black People For Gay-Rights Defeat This Time." Hilarious.
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Magical thinking
Obama made three trips to New Jersey on behalf of Jon Corzine and yet, he still lost. Inconceivable!
I realize you're a child who believes that the President can make things happen magically, but alas, it's not true. Sometimes having an outsider come in and try to affect events works, sometimes it doesn't, and sometimes it backfires.
Did they put stupid pills in the Schuylkill?
Just one question:
Did Obama support the Maine referendum on gay marriage in CA or ME?
No. Obviously, some things are worth doing whether they "affect events" or not. (That has nothing to do with "magical thinking" -- although it may have something to do with leadership.) I think that treating gays as fully human is one such thing. Obama disagrees. So does the FKDP establishment. And so does Mithras. It's sad, really.
NOTE Not sure what any of this has to do with Corzine. Maybe when Mithras is calmer he'll make an attempt to explain.
"First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win." -- Mahatma Gandhi
It's about the principle of the thing
Mithras, as Lambert says, some of us are disappointed not because Obama could wave a magic wand, but because he doesn't stand up for what's right.
Although, as you say, maybe it's just as well. I mean, he lobbies for Chicago to host the Olympics: the town comes in dead last. He stumps for Corzine: he loses after being ahead in the polls. Obama does health insurance reform: it was supported by 75% (80%?) of the population and is now somewhere down in the low 40s or high 30s. It is starting to look like a bit of a pattern, isn't it?