There's a phrase I love but rarely use, 'with the added charm of being meaningless.' I heard it in an old Bogart movie; Bogart and his friend were paratroopers and his friend had a mysterious past. The friend ends up dead, Bogart is having a drink with the man he realizes is the killer and makes a toast, 'Geronimo.' The villain says it's a quaint toast with the added charm of being meaningless. I use it when I am strongly contemptuous of something or someone. I am going to use it today.
Obama (the dog eater) came out for gay marriage. Well, sort of. Not really. It's evolving. In 1996, Obama filled out a questionnaire while running for state senator where he said he was in favor of gay marriage and would oppose laws banning it. Then he ran for president and suddenly he supported the Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage as only between a man and a woman. For years, though, he's said his 'understanding' of the issue is 'evolving'. It gave him plausible deniability and allowed for him to appear friendly to gay donors and also religious voters. Now, though, he has stated he's for gay marriage. Which means he's going to press for the Defense of Marriage Act to be repealed by Congress, right?
No. But he's declared that he's going to order the attorney general to not defend it in lawsuits, right?
No. But he's going to require companies bidding for government contacts to provide benefits to same-sex couples, right?
No. But he's going to order Obamacare to give coverage to same-sex couples, right?
No. But he's going to use the threat of losing public funds to coerce the states to make gay marriage legal, right?
No. He said that he believes in states' rights and won't interfere with their banning of gay marriage. So he's doing nothing at all?
No. He's cashing the checks of gay donors that were refusing to donate unless he supported gay marriage. He was going to lose tens of millions of dollars otherwise.
So Obama's support of gay marriage has the added charm of being meaningless. It changes nothing. He can recognize same-sex relationships in the federal bureaucracy and the military without Congress. He can give those rights to hundreds of thousands of people and there'd be no way to stop him. He won't though.
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