Leaders lead


NYT editorial:

Gay Marriage: Where’s Mr. Obama?

On Thursday night, when same-sex marriage in New York State was teetering on a razor’s edge, President Obama had a perfect opportunity to show the results of his supposed evolution on gay marriage.

Unfortunately, he did not take it, keeping his own views in the shadows. The next night the Republican-led New York State Senate, of all places, proved itself more forward-thinking than the president on one of the last great civil-rights debates in this nation’s history.

There’s a lot more and you should read it.

You might think that Obama’s failure to lead on this issue would be inarguable, but then you don’t know John Cole:

No. No. And A Thousand Times, No.

[…]

Cuomo and the NY politicians were very carefully advancing the issue in a delicate manner, allowing this to be a vote of conscience for the Senators, free from the usual heightened levels of partisan rancor. Things were proceeding nicely, everything pointed to a win for gay rights the next night, and Obama didn’t need to do anything to “lead.” In fact, if Obama had gone up there and delivered what these clowns wanted, and gave a rousing speech claiming he had changed his mind, it would have done nothing but blown up the current negotiations. How many Republicans who were supporting the vote would have backed away, simply because Republicans could not give Obama a “win.” The vote of conscience would be gone, and it would become a partisan battle and the vote would probably have failed.

Koolaid is a helluva drug.


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9 Responses to Leaders lead

  1. myiq2xu says:

    Nate Silver:

    That Mr. Cuomo’s accomplishment pertains to same-sex marriage, an issue on which Mr. Obama has adopted an indecipherable position born of a cynical-seeming political calculus, makes the contrast sharper. And that it involved achieving cooperation from Republicans, something Mr. Obama has rarely received, makes it seem as though Mr. Cuomo has more effectively executed upon Mr. Obama’s “theory of change” than the president himself, demonstrating that articulating clear and unapologetic goals is not incompatible with persuading votes on the margins.

  2. votermom says:

    Blago found guilty on 17 out of 20 counts.
    BO still clean as a whistle.
    Bleh. Fitzmas is a letdown.

    http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-blagojevich-jurors-going-into-their-10th-day-20110627,0,620170.story

  3. myiq2xu says:

    BTD in the comments at Buffoon Juice:

    Obama was irrelevant to the New York vote.

    I agree, but he didn’t have to be.

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