Pres. Obam and the Democrats chose to have their convention in Charlotte, NC because they believed they could win the state. Now that the marriage protection amendment has passed there by an overwhelming majority and Obama still chose to come out for same-sex marriage, his position in North Carolina has deteriorated substantially, according to Rasmussen:
Mitt Romney has moved out to an eight-point lead over President Obama in North Carolina after the two men were virtually tied a month ago.
The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Voters in the Tar Heel State shows the putative Republican nominee earning 51% of the vote to Obama’s 43%. Two percent (2%) like some other candidate, and four percent (4%) are undecided. (To see survey question wording, click here.)
That’s a big change from last month when Romney posted a narrow 46% to 44% lead over the president in Rasmussen Reports’ first survey of the race in North Carolina. Democrats have signaled North Carolina’s importance as a key swing state by deciding to hold their national convention in Charlotte this summer.
... Last week, 61% of North Carolina voters last week approved a constitutional amendment defining marriage as between only a man and a woman. The next night, Obama became the first U.S. president to publicly endorse gay marriage.
Matthew Franck with marching orders for the pro-marriage army:
In his ABC interview, Obama said, "I've just concluded that for me personally it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same-sex couples should be able to get married." He went on to stress (in ABC's words) that this was only his "personal position, and that he still supports the concept of states deciding the issue on their own." Of course, on issues of great public moment, a president does not have merely "personal" views. This is now, more clearly than ever, a huge campaign issue for 2012. The president will now wage an all-out campaign of calling Mitt Romney an "anti-gay" bigot for opposing what he himself would not embrace until five minutes ago. But given the track record of victories for the defense of marriage in thirty-one states, and the still-tentative declaration of the president, it is clear that he knows he is running a risky strategy. What he knows, we should know too. And we should know that if we keep our heads, and don't buy into the "anti-gay" framing of the liberal establishment, we are strong enough to win the fight for the truth about marriage. -- Public Discourse
The editors of National Review:
President Obama is getting credit, even from some critics, for finally being honest and consistent in his position on same-sex marriage now that he has announced his support for it. But he is still being neither honest nor consistent. And his dishonesty is not merely a matter of pretending that he has truly changed his mind about marriage, rather than about the politics of marriage.
His claim that he believes that states should decide marriage policy is also impossible to credit. One of the purposes of the federal Defense of Marriage Act was to block this scenario: A same-sex couple that resides in a state that does not recognize same-sex unions as marriages goes to a state that does so recognize them, gets married there, returns home, sues in federal court to make the home state recognize the “marriage,” and prevails. Obama has long favored the repeal of the act. He does not truly want states to be able to continue to define marriage as the union of a man and a woman.
And really, why should he, given his premises? Does anyone doubt that he believes that the marriage laws of most states are not just wrong but unjust? His spokesmen have repeatedly said as much when registering his opposition to states’ attempts to undo judicial decisions to impose same-sex marriage. If these marriage laws amount to unjust discrimination against certain persons, then it follows that states have no right to enforce them. If Obama’s appointees to the Supreme Court join a majority that requires all states to recognize same-sex marriages, does anyone think that he will do anything but applaud? There is no reason to believe that Obama’s long-advertised “evolution” on marriage is now complete.
Today on Public Discourse, Tom Haine traces the evolution of President Obama's views on marriage and concludes that he was either seriously befuddled or simply lying:
The electorate will often forgive--and can even embrace--a clean conversion story, where a politician honestly changes his mind and admits to it. But on marriage, such a story should not be available for the President, who was either alarmingly befuddled for several years or merely lying.
After his big announcement on May 9, President Obama now has some serious questions to answer about his position, the first of which is simply, what is marriage? But we should not start this substantive discussion just yet. The president probably believes he can successfully present himself as a sincere new convert to marriage equality who just changed his mind. He was a reluctant bigot, his supporters could even say, but now he has sincerely seen the light (and so, he seems to imply, should we). But if we focus on the timeline of the last few years, any nice conversion story becomes patently absurd.
Vision to America:
The Democrats’ top leader in Congress said Thursday that the party’s platform will soon include a plank calling for the legalization of gay marriage.
“The president’s in favor of it — I’m sure it will be [included],” said Reid.
Delegates to the Democratic National Convention will meet in Charlotte, N.C., to vote on the party’s platform in early September.
Voters in North Carolina this week approved a state constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.
And in fact, in all probability, more Democrats in North Carolina supported the marriage protection amendment than opposed it..
Katrina Trinko of National Review summarizes the post Obama announcement polling:
It looks like Barack Obama’s decision to support gay marriage is hurting him in the polls. A CBS/NYT poll out tonight gives Mitt Romney a 3-point lead among voters, 46 percent to 43 percent. A Rasmussen poll conducted after Obama’s announcement on gay marriage gave Romney a 4-point lead. And in the Gallupdaily tracking poll (which is based on seven days’ polling), Obama’s only 1 point ahead today.
Overall, the CBS/NYT poll found that 25 percent of voters are less likely to back Obama because of his new position on gay marriage, while 16 percent are more likely.
Our President Brian Brown's exclusive op-ed with CNN:
North Carolina is so important to the re-election chances of Barack Obama that he picked Charlotte as the host city for the Democratic nominating convention.
On May 8, all his careful plans came crashing down when 61% of voters in a North Carolina referendum adopted a constitutional amendment defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman.
... Obama's embrace of same-sex marriage will help ensure he becomes a one-term president, and his political demise will begin with North Carolina.
Despite what many in the media claim, the American people do not support same-sex marriage. They sure as heck don't in North Carolina, where voters made it clear they want to prevent activist judges and politicians like Obama from redefining marriage.
The National Organization for Marriage, which I head, helped lead the North Carolina campaign. Our victory for marriage was so impressive that the prominent Democratic Public Policy Polling firm sent out this Twitter missive as the results came in: "Hate to say it, but I don't believe polls showing majority support for gay marriage nationally. Any time there's a vote, it doesn't back it up."
Read the rest right here.
The Coalition for African American Pastors:
Memphis, TN – A coalition of well-known and highly respected Black clergy headed by the Reverend William Owens, founder and president of the Coalition of African American Pastors (CAAP) and other leaders responded strongly to President Obama’s declaration of support for same-sex marriage. Reverend Owens led in the civil rights movement in Nashville, Tennessee and said he is appalled by the ongoing effort by GLBT activists to link sexual diversity to the historic fight for civil rights for Black Americans. The coalition includes such noted leaders as:
- Bishop George D. McKinney, Jurisdictional Prelate of Southern California Second Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction and General Board Member of the Church of God in Christ; senior pastor of St. Stephens Cathedral in San Diego, California
- Bishop Felton Smith, Prelate of the Tennessee Eastern First urisdiction and Senior Pastor of New Covenant Fellowship Church of God in Christ in Nashville, TN. He also serves as Episcopal Coordinator on the Board of Bishops for the Church of God in Christ.
- Bishop Brandon B Porter, Prelate of the Tennessee Central, Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction of the Church of God in Christ and Senior Pastor of Greater Community Temple in Memphis
- Bishop Ed Stephens, Jr., Senior Pastor of Golden Gate Cathedral in Memphis
- Bishop James H. Gaylord, Prelate of the 1st Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction of Eastern New York and Senior Pastor of Kelly Temple in Harlem, NY.
- Dr. Dwight Montgomery, Pastor of Annesdale Cherokee Baptist Church, Memphis, and President of the SCLC (Memphis Chapter)
- Dr. Chuck Singleton, Senior Pastor of Loveland Church in Ontario, California
- Bishop Robert Jefferson, Senior Pastor of Cullen Missionary Baptist Church, Houston, Texas
- Bishop Janice Hollis, Presiding Prelate of the Covenant International Fellowship of Churches.
- Rev. William Owens, Sr., Founder and President, Coalition of African American Pastors, Memphis
“We cannot and will not remain silent while marriage, the most fundamental institution in our and any nation, is undermined by our own President while using Christian language and relating it to civil rights.
Over at Public Discourse, Carson Holloway examines some of the tensions and contradictions that remain in President Obama's flip-flop on same-sex marriage:
The president has recently received a good deal of credit from liberal commentators for having come out clearly in support of same-sex marriage. Having once opposed it, and having more recently said that his position was evolving, he has now said that he is in favor of it. The credit he is getting for this supposedly brave stand is undeserved, however, because the president's position is still, on a close examination, very muddled. It is sufficiently inconsistent to lead one to suspect that it arises from a deep confusion or, alternatively, an equally deep cynicism about the principles at stake.
These contradictions are readily apparent to anyone who takes the time to read the full transcript of the president's interview with ABC's Robin Roberts, in which he made national news by announcing his new position and discussed the reasons for it at length.
Seth McLaughlin at The Washington Times:
While many Republicans consider the sudden emergence of gay marriage as an issue in the 2012 presidential campaign an unhelpful distraction, social conservatives Sunday insisted the Obama administration has given presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney an opportunity.
“I think the president this past week took six or seven states he carried in 2008 and put them in play with this one ill-conceived position that he’s taken,” American Values President Gary Bauer said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
“I think that Barack Obama has helped fit that missing piece of intensity that Mitt Romney is going to need,” Tony Perkins, president of the conservative Christian organization Family Research Council, said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
Gay marriage is suddenly the country’s hottest political talking point after Mr. Obama last week said he now personally supports same-sex marriages — though he said the legality of such unions should be decided by individual states.
Mr. Romney, who once argued in Massachusetts that he would be a better advocate for gay rights than Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, quickly drew a sharp contrast with the president on the issue, insisting that marriage is “one man, one woman.”
