by: Tom Rau
A few words on the state of the Union in the wake of North Carolina’s approval of Amendment 1….
The other day while perusing my Facebook newsfeed I saw a few comments about how Barack Obama should have supported LBGT same sex marriage along time ago and how that if he had done so six months ago it might have pushed the voting in North Carolina against the ratification of amendment one. This very well could be true. But people in the Obama camp know a lot more about game theory than the rest of us. And make no mistake they are involved in a game; against a dying breed of men who wish nothing more than to make a last feeble grab at power before their kind of old world thinking finally becomes extinct. These were the masters of the universe. The oppressors. The rich. The powerful. The 1%. And let’s face it, when you are talking about human rights the stakes are extremely high. To think Barack Obama and his people didn’t know exactly what was happening and what the outcome would be in North Carolina is naive. They knew what was going to happen and the fact that Obama came out for the first time as president on the issue was, in my eyes, not an accident. Obama has a plan. And it is not about winning a battle in one state.
Anyway, I got to thinking about why Obama wouldn’t have come out and supported those of us in North Carolina when he had a chance to swing the vote. Then I got to thinking about his 2012 campaign strategy. His new campaign slogan is “forward”. He is pushing hard to get a huge turn out again among young voters. The problem is a lot of people under 40 who previously voted for Obama are on the fence now. And they aren’t on the fence about choosing Romney over Obama, they are on the fence about voting at all. The huge youth turnout that happened in 2008 might not happen again because much of the base has become detached, jaded, and untrusting. After all we were promised change. What we got was a whole lot of compromise, and then we were thrown in jail for starting a movement. But then something hit me. Maybe the president is fighting a war and all we see is the battle.
I believe President Obama wants to leave a huge mark as a president. He doesn’t want to be remembered as only the first black president. And why should he. He is ultimately a human president. His first effort to leave a legacy, national healthcare, has been basically crushed by the GOP ((which is ironic considering Richard Nixon was the first to propose nearly an identical plan. And in case you are reading this as a Republican (doubtful for a variety of reasons) he is one of your people.)). But what if Obama could leave a much larger mark. Imagine if our country’s first black president was also responsible for one of our country’s largest civil rights victories. The historical ramifications on this president’s legacy would be enormous. ((Lincoln, Wilson, Kennedy, Obama. Next we just have to get the LGBT community the right.))
Think about it. What better way to rally the youth to vote than to promise a change that will actually bring equality ((at least on paper)) to everyone? How about an amendment to end the ban on gay marriage. Obama says his views on lesbian and gay rights are evolving. Well I expect his views to evolve to the point where he proposes we do something about it on a national level and that it will soon become a campaign promise. Now the argument against this theory is that Obama will lose black voters who often aren’t supportive of LBGT rights. I don’t buy this theory for a second. It falls short on two accounts. First of all, views on LBGT rights are changing very quickly in this country ((http://www.cnn.com/2012/05/10/politics/same-sex-marriage-polling/)). And secondly, does anyone really think that black voters are going to come out and vote for Mitt Romney? Oh, wait, I’m sorry, the argument is that they just won’t vote at all. Yeah Okay. Put yourself in black shoes for a second. You have been enslaved for 400 years and now you have a black president. Are you really going to stay at home and not vote for him because he is cool with gay people when the alternative is you have a white turd for president who is part of a party that still shows plenty of signs of racism and bigotry. Please. This is propaganda speaking. Just because some black people (( By no means am i trying to single out black people here as being bigots. I live in NC where 90% of white hicks voted for Amendment 1. People of every color need to get their fucking shit together and act cool.)) aren’t down with gay rights yet doesn’t mean they want to go backwards in time to a place where they have to fear for their lives for walking down the street ((Oh wait, we still do live in that time. See Trayvon Martin.)). Obama and the minority vote is more than safe.
The battle is over. Those of us in North Carolina feel the loss. Soon we will have the democratic convention. It will be held here in North Carolina, where we will still be licking our wounds . What better place to start a war cry. Propose a national amendment. Rally the troops. Evolve. After all it’s a war, not a battle. And the only way to win is move “forward”.
