Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Why is it so hard to do the popular thing?

For years progressives have been screaming at Barack Obama to do the right thing on marriage equality and immigration (among other things), not just because it's the right thing to do, but also because it's the POPULAR thing to do.

Gay rights:

Strong public support for same-sex marriage exceeds strong opposition by a significant margin for the first time in ABC News/Washington Post polls, and African-Americans have moved more in favor, perhaps taking their lead from Barack Obama on the issue.

Overall, 53 percent of Americans say gay marriage should be legal, steady the past year but up from 36 percent in just 2006. Thirty-nine percent 'strongly' support it, while 32 percent are strongly opposed ' the first time strong sentiment has tilted positive. Six years ago, by contrast, strong views on the issue were negative by a broad 27-point margin.

Immigration:
President Barack Obama is winning the opening round in the battle over immigration, according to a Bloomberg poll released today, putting Republicans on the defensive with his decision to end the deportations of some illegal immigrants brought to the U.S. as children.

Sixty-four percent of likely voters surveyed after Obama's June 15 announcement said they agreed with the policy, while 30 percent said they disagreed. Independents backed the decision by better than a two-to-one margin.

And remember when opposing the Catholic bishops on access to contraceptives was going to cost him big with the Catholic vote?
Eighty-two percent of U.S. Catholics say birth control is morally acceptable, nearing the 89% of all Americans and 90% of non-Catholics who agree. The level of acceptability on this issue is far greater than that of the other 17 issues Gallup asked about this year.
And remember, these were the HARD decisions, the supposedly politically difficult ones. Yet not only have they proven to be political plusses, but you know it's true because Republicans have'by and large'shut their traps about them.

I'm not talking the fringe wackos like Tony Perkins, the Catholic bishops, or the Minutemen types or their allies in Congress like Michelle Bachmann and Steve King, but those who are trying to get elected in politically competitive places. Like Mitt Romney.

And by and large, that's the difference between activist progressives and their teabagger (and theocratic) counterparts'we're trying to move the Democratic Party and its politicians into the American mainstream. The other side is doing the opposite.

If only Obama had moved quicker on these issues (and others), perhaps he (and we) would be in better political footing. But hey, better late than never, and if nothing else, it looks like Obama has truly learned his lesson'people respond positively when he leads, not when he sits around and begs recalcitrant Republicans to join him.


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