Obama Lets Go Of Fear (Andrew Sullivan) from the Daily Beast
"I do not know how orchestrated this was; and I do not know how calculated it is. What I know is that, absorbing the news, I was uncharacteristically at a loss for words for a while, didn't know what to write, and, like many Dish readers, there are tears in my eyes."
President Obama, in a Dramatic Shift, Backs Same-Sex Marriage (Howard Kurtz) from the Daily Beast
"The president drops a political bombshell by siding with gays on a culturally divisive issue. Howard Kurtz on the risks for Obama—and the challenge facing Romney."
Howard gets a two-fer:
How Obama Came Out for Marriage (Howard Kurtz) from the Daily Beast
"Vice President Biden torpedoed the White House plan to endorse gay marriage before the Democratic convention. Howard Kurtz on how political and media pressure forced the president’s hand."
Obama’s Moment from the Editorial Board of the New York Times
"The president now has the moral high ground."
Reaction to President Obama's Same-Sex Marriage Endorsement (Jonathan Rauch) from the Brookings Institution
"Obama decided it's worth a roll of the dice to make history. Which is what he has done. As of his announcement, favoring gay marriage is now fully, indisputably, and permanently a mainstream political position. All hint of weirdness or stigma is gone. It is also now the stated position of one of the two major political parties (only 16 years after President Bill Clinton, a Democrat, signed the anti-gay-marriage Defense of Marriage Act)."
Liberty and Justice for All (Charles M. Blow) from the New York Times
"There is no wrong time to do the right thing."
Obama Comes Out, and Makes History (Greg Sargent) from the Washington Post
"... this moment is a civil rights milestone. Obama has become the first — and only — sitting president to come out for full equality for gay and lesbian Americans. We will now find out whether coming out for full equality for those with different sexual orientations is really the massive political risk people said it would be. "
The President's Marriage Announcement (David Frum) from the Daily Beast
"The president's statement today about marriage rights changes nothing—and everything. The statement changes everything because it powerfully symbolizes an awakening that so many people have had, myself included: here is a social change whose time has come, and more than come. Denying marriage rights to same-sex couples inflicts real harm on real people, while doing nothing to prevent the deterioration of marriage among non-affluent Americans."
Ted Kennedy, Bin Laden & Gay Marriage: How Obama Got His Audacity Back (Michael Daly) from the Daily Beast
"Obama finally stopped ducking the question of same-sex marriage on Wednesday. Michael Daly on how Ted Kennedy—and even Osama bin Laden—helped the president finally reclaim the watchword that got him elected."
No Matter Their Impact, Historic Words (Frank Bruni) from the New York Times
"... no signal or word from the president is going to translate into the legalization of same-sex marriage from coast to coast. But that doesn’t diminish the emotional importance of what just happened. I find myself thinking about all the teenagers and young adults out there who cower in silence because they worry about being ostracized if they speak the truth about their sexual orientation. I think about the ones who are bullied, even the ones who contemplate taking their own lives."
Obama Evolves (Ta-Nehisi Coates) from the Atlantic
"I know what the polls show, and I know he was pushed into it, but I still credit the president with doing the right thing. So much of this process reminds me of Lincoln weighing emancipation, even as he knew, in his heart, that slavery was a sin."
Top Social Conservative Worried the Right May Lose on Gay Marriage from The Hill
"A leading voice in the social conservative movement is worried that the tide has turned against the right on gay marriage and that President Obama's announcement could further erode their position."
Leak About Al Qaeda Plot and Double Agent Helps CIA, Could Scare Terrorists (Tara McKelvey) from the Daily Beast
"The disclosure of a covert action and about the double agent involved in the thwarted plot is highly unusual, but the leak gives the impression the CIA has reach—and may help Americans by throwing terrorists off balance."
Romney Gets Testy After Questions On Gay Marriage, DREAM and Pot from Talking Points Memo
" In an interivew with a CBS affiliate in Colorado, Romney was visibly annoyed after a string of questions that included his stance on gay marriage and civil unions (he’s against them), in-state tuition for the children of illegal immigrants (he’s against that) and medical marijuana (he thinks pot is a “gateway drug”). “Aren’t there issues of significance you’d like to talk about?” he said..."
I could be wrong -- but it's my sense that the pressure is building for Romney to really demonstrate some courage SOMEWHERE. A meme is developing and deepening that he is a feckless jellyfish wholly owned by the most extreme elements of the GOP. Obama (not for the first time) showed what courage looked like yesterday. Romney has to respond with something more than just another pander to the hard right.
Democrats have real chance to hold on to Senate majority (Paul Kane) from the Washington Post
"But Tuesday’s landslide victory in the GOP primary by Indiana state Treasurer Richard Mourdock, a staunch conservative who beat longtime Sen. Richard G. Lugar, gave Democrats hope for claiming a seat they have not seriously contested in three decades. The sudden opening reflects a growing sense that the potential for big Republican gains has begun to ebb and that Democrats have a real chance of hanging on to their majority."
Why Conservatives Chose Nuttiness (Gene Lyons) from the National Memo
"Following the comprehensive failures of President George W. Bush, conservatives faced a hard choice: rethink or go crazy. For too many, the election of Barack Obama appears to have made it, so to speak, a no-brainer. Millions have chosen the comforts of delusion, envisioning the ordinary give and take of politics in a democracy as an apocalyptic struggle between good and evil."
Mitt Romney’s Leadership Challenge: Supporter Accuses Obama of Treason from the Reid Report
"The trouble for Romney is that his shrinking in the face of an obvious opportunity to stand up for decency, reinforces the notion of his fear of his own base, and his inability to stand on principle, assuming we understand what his principles are. Not a good narrative builder if you want to be leader of the free world."
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