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 presidents 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 presidents 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. Thats not where were going, and thats 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.
Really? Not a single black in this country who’ll vote GOP? Your hyperbole insults the many good conservative blacks there are in the ranks of the GOP - or are you saying they are figments of my imagination?
What will kill turnout for Obama is a campaign that implies that anyone who votes for Obama is gay.
I think that must be left a mystery... or it just ain’t sexy. ;>)
[ The Holy Bond of Matrimony is between a male and a female...there are reasons for this health wise. Like obesity, aberrant sexual behavior has consequences. ]
So do you want the state controling what you put on your fork?
Not sure where you are going here... Please Clarify.
You might want to rethink that statement. I know a lot of people that would contradict your way of thinking.
"Hi, now that you're disaffected with Obama's gay marriage stance, how bout registering as Republican?"
The only benefit to Obama from his ‘coming out’ in support of same-sex ‘marriage’ was to get more money from gays and gay marriage advocates but they were going to vote for him, anyway. Some black voters may have less enthusiasm to work for Obama’s re-election and it’s likely that some blacks will decide to abstain from voting as a way of benignly opposing Obama’s gay marriage stand but not going so far as to vote for the rich white guy. That could tip the scales toward Romney in some places but not in N.Y. or California where the preponderance of liberals offsets the minority vote. In states that have a tight race - which I don’t foresee - that absence of the black vote might doom Obama. Let’s hope so.
Not necessarily. With real Christians, God comes first and foremost. Obama would come only after God and His word.
Of course, that’s not to say that most blacks in churches these days ARE ‘real Christians’. Just look at the ones that attended Rev. Wright’s hate spews.
Look for black pastors to be ‘schooled’ by the Obama administration as to how to spin and promote gay marriage now. Indoctrination. Not just for public schools and colleges any more.
There isnt a single black in this country wholl vote GOP,
Uh, you didn’t think that one out.
yes you exist...........and thank you.
"In states that have a tight race - which I dont foresee - that absence of the black vote might doom Obama."
Here is a list of what many doctors refer to as Lavender diseases. They occur with extraordinary frequency among male homosexuals.
Anal Cancer
Chlamydia trachomatis
Cryptosporidium
Giardia lamblia
Herpes simplex virus
Human immunodeficiency virus
Human papilloma virus
Isospora belli
Microsporidia
Gonorrhea
Viral hepatitis types B & C
Syphilis
To say there are none would be wrong. There are quite a few. Ever heard of Allen West? Judging from your screen name, you must be a listener to Savage's show, and you know there are conservative blacks who call his show.
Of course it’s irrelevant to black churches Obama’s stand on homo-marriage. They have enthusiastically supported him in spite of their opposition to abortion.
As someone said down-thread, “Melanin über alles.”
How wrong you are!Obama's support in the African-American Community has plummeted to a new low of 97.99%. However, that is among living African-American voters who only vote once. The absentee ballots, and the dead are still 106% behind dere brudder!
Bingo! It was already going to be tougher to get high turnout the second time around because, now that Obama is President, it's no longer about “making history” by electing him. So, this gay marriage stuff is the last thing Obama needs.
Obama will get 95% of the Black vote, but I predict the Black vote will be notably lighter this time around.
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