On the rec list, there's a post informing us that Debbie Wasserman-Schultz has been picked to run the DNC. Could this be another step in President Obama's "evolution" on gay marriage? Wasserman-Schultz is a longtime supporter of equality for LGBTs.
"She's with us, an absolute champion when it comes to equality, first as a legislator in Florida," Smith said. "She's brought that fighting spirit to Washington, D.C. She was with us on hate crimes, ENDA [Employment Non-Discrimination Act], marriage equality. She's a founding member of the Congressional LGBT Equality Caucus."
It can't be an accident that a founder of the LGBT Equality Caucus was picked. In any other situation, the person who is chosen could back away from their previous support for gay marriage while representing their district, if that's what is asked of them at the national level. But it would be completely impossible to suddenly completely reverse course when she was an actual founding member of the Congressional caucus and an open advocate.
And really, there's just no way for President Obama to pick someone to head the Democratic Party who supports marriage equality when he himself will keep refusing to sign on. I guess there's always a chance that any politician could be that stupid, but it would take an enormous level of incompetence to make that sort of blunder a day after kicking off his re-election campaign. It is more likely that he did this with full knowledge of her positions thinking that it will help ease his transition into full support.
Indeed, he did choose her himself:
President Obama is set to name Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D) of Florida as the new chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, according to numerous published reports.
I will now be surprised if he doesn't sign on to full support of marriage equality for the 2012 campaign. I cannot imagine the logical hoops one would have to go through in order to keep from supporting it at this point. And honestly I can't imagine he'd want to spend time making up a convoluted rationalization against marriage during his re-election campaign and months after he not only agreed to stop defending DOMA because of its unconstitutionality, but also asked his DOJ to argue that laws targeted at gays deserve heightened scrutiny. He's putting himself into a situation where not being in support of marriage would go against most of his actions recently. And it's difficult to see it continue.
This campaign will be interesting though, for sure.