Okay, which person looks the hungriest?..............
Posted on 05/14/2012 11:18:05 AM PDT by Kaslin
Barney Frank told the panel on ABC’s This Week that “I don’t think anyone’s vote was changed” when Barack Obama endorsed the legalization of same-sex marriage — but that might be too optimistic an analysis. The New York Times reports that the White House went on a charm offensive with leaders of faith organizations, including and perhaps especially African-American churches where opposition to gay marriage runs high. So far, the charm offensive has had mixed results:
About two hours after declaring his support for same-sex marriage last week, President Obama gathered eight or so African-American ministers on a conference call to explain himself. He had struggled with the decision, he said, but had come to believe it was the right one.
The ministers, though, were not all as enthusiastic. A vocal few made it clear that the president’s stand on gay marriage might make it difficult for them to support his re-election. …
In the end, Mr. Coates, who supports civil marriages for gay men and lesbians, said that most of the pastors, regardless of their views on this issue, agreed to “work aggressively” on behalf of the president’s campaign. But not everyone. “Gay marriage is contrary to their understanding of Scripture,” Mr. Coates said. “There are people who are really wrestling with this.”
This was the danger of going on the record, a danger Obama’s allies on the Left apparently discounted. Obama drove turnout in 2008 in part through the enthusiastic participation of these very same churches. Having now sided with the people who call these black pastors and congregations “bigots,” especially in North Carolina where two-thirds of black voters supported Amendment One, Obama is not at risk of having them flip to Mitt Romney — but he does risk losing that enthusiasm, fundraising, and organization.
It’s not just about the policy itself, either. The churches now wonder whether Obama will back efforts to force churches to perform same-sex marriages, a topic which one religious leader broached with the President during one of the calls:
“Some of the faith communities are going to be afraid that this is an attack against religious liberty,” Mr. Hunter remembered telling the president.
“Absolutely not,” Mr. Obama insisted. “That’s not where we’re going, and that’s not what I want.”
Really? The Obama administration’s track record on religious freedom singularly argues otherwise. Most recently, the White House stabbed their allies in health-care reform in the Catholic Church in the back by using the ObamaCare law that the US Conference of Catholic Bishops supported to create a mandate that requires church organizations to pay for contraception, sterilization, and abortifacients. Even more to the point, the Obama administration tried to apply the ADA to force a church to rehire a minister they’d terminated, an attempt that got a 9-0 rebuke from the Supreme Court.
The only time this President is solicitous of religious freedom and principles is when he’s trying to cover his own rear end.
On the other hand, Obama’s declaration has resulted in a lot of enthusiasm at churches … for Romney, as Andrew Malcolm explains:
Near the end of the competitive part of the recent Republican presidential primary season, Gov. Mitt Romney began showing growing support among evangelical voters. The Mormon had been losing that influential portion of the GOP base by lopsided proportions. Not anymore.
Thank you, Barack Obama. …
In a major examination of evangelical support for Romney the Deseret News Sunday quoted several Southern academics. Dave Woodard of Clemson University called Obama’s carefully-staged statement a gift for Romney highlighting his candidacy’s uniqueness in supporting traditional marriage.
“I don’t think there’s any doubt he’s sealed the deal,” with most evangelical voters, Woodard told the paper. “I think he can make up for any other problems he has with them with just this one issue.”
Woodard added: “There is beginning to be some genuine enthusiasm for Mitt Romney. They’re not just going to talk about his Sunday morning activities. He has the convictions on the issues they like.”
Newsweek may have crowned Obama with a secular halo this weekend, but he’s not getting hosannas from the churches — and that might be all it takes to send Obama into retirement in January 2013.
Well said, lj!
If massive voter fraud is attempted and is successful, we may be looking at Civil War II..............
This election is between two very hungry for political power where money is no object - it’s not about America - I think all bets are off on what to expect.
Okay, which person looks the hungriest?..............
Gag! By their underhanded ways - they both are.
I am black and voting for Romney. You must have fell and bumped your head. You dont know squat about what black people will do.Wait for November and you will see what black people will do. Obama is toast!!
I must be the only lone black(NOT) I WILL BE VOTING FOR THE GOP CANDIDATE ROMNEY. OBAMA IS A FRAUD AND HAS NOT DONE ANYTHING FOR BLACKS ANYWAY. WHY WASTE MY VOTE ON OBAMA AND DOING NOTHING. YOU ARE WRONG FRIEND. BLACKS ARE LOOKING FOR A CANDIDATE THAT CAN GET THIS COUNTRY BACK TO WORK.!! AND WITH GAY MARRIAGE OBAMA IS NOT THE BEST CANDIDATE. BLACKS DO NOT CONDONE PERVERSION.
YOUR ARE TELLING THE TRUTH TO A POINT. OBAMA FEELS LIKE HE GOT US WHERE HE WANTS US. BUT EVERY NOW AND THEN THE WIND CHANGES BECAUSE GOD IS IN CONTROL NOT OBAMA. HE IS ARROGANT NOW BUT GOD SAYS PRIDE COMES BEFORE A FALL. I THINK OBAMA WILL FALL AND LOSE THIS ELECTION IN NOV. STAND STILL AND SEE THE SALVATION OF THE LORD ON ELECTION DAY.!!
i changed and registered as an independent.
I may know more than you think, Jack. :)
I keep a fair amount of tabs on black chat rooms and my opinions are formed by those that have participated in the chat rooms and talking with them. Yes, I actually do chat with people and not just form opinions based on what other people have said about blacks.
If it weren’t for the gay issue, the reality is that the Dems would have had an unsurmountable lock on the black vote. But the good news about it is that I do think that Obama approving gay marriage is that it has woken up many blacks to the reality that they aren’t being served by their representatives and may help put an end to identity politics.
That’s the best thing and I’m happy to talk to a fellow Republican. :)
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