With 13 days left until the election, Barack Obama spoke directly to his opposition's divisive campaign tactics by stressing that America is made up of all kinds of people who love this country, including gay ones.
This has been interesting as Sarah Palin in particular has really been working up her rhetoric of small town America versus big city America lately. She's all but said that it's only the small town folks that have "pro American" values. Combine this with all the Republicans accusing Dems, especially Obama, of having "anti-American" values and it's pretty clear which side the so-called "Culture Wars" originate on.
It is funny how, lacking any kind of substantive policy (besides assuring Joe the Plumber that once his ship comes in and he's making more than $250,000/year that he'll have tax breaks) the GOP reliably falls back on questioning the patriotism of their opponents.
Also, Palin's main function as McCain's running mate is to say all the things he doesn't want to say himself for fear of alienating moderates. Thus it's from her mouth that support for a Federal Marriage Amendment comes rather than his. She may claim she doesn't "judge" us, but it's clear she doesn't believe we deserve anything even close to equal rights either.
It reminds me of a sweet little old southern lady that lives near my Mom. I don't remember how this came up but the conversation was about some African-American and the old lady (un-ironically) made the remark: "It's not their fault they were born coloured". I'm sure that by the standards of her upbringing that was a positively progressive statement.
While Obama is be no means the most liberal of the original Dem contenders and is not as unilaterally supportive as some might wish, at least he name checks us in a positive way in his speeches. Unlike McCain and Palin, who mostly reference us only when talking about "defending the traditional family" from us.
Palin's Culture War
This has been interesting as Sarah Palin in particular has really been working up her rhetoric of small town America versus big city America lately. She's all but said that it's only the small town folks that have "pro American" values. Combine this with all the Republicans accusing Dems, especially Obama, of having "anti-American" values and it's pretty clear which side the so-called "Culture Wars" originate on.
It is funny how, lacking any kind of substantive policy (besides assuring Joe the Plumber that once his ship comes in and he's making more than $250,000/year that he'll have tax breaks) the GOP reliably falls back on questioning the patriotism of their opponents.
Also, Palin's main function as McCain's running mate is to say all the things he doesn't want to say himself for fear of alienating moderates. Thus it's from her mouth that support for a Federal Marriage Amendment comes rather than his. She may claim she doesn't "judge" us, but it's clear she doesn't believe we deserve anything even close to equal rights either.
It reminds me of a sweet little old southern lady that lives near my Mom. I don't remember how this came up but the conversation was about some African-American and the old lady (un-ironically) made the remark: "It's not their fault they were born coloured". I'm sure that by the standards of her upbringing that was a positively progressive statement.
While Obama is be no means the most liberal of the original Dem contenders and is not as unilaterally supportive as some might wish, at least he name checks us in a positive way in his speeches. Unlike McCain and Palin, who mostly reference us only when talking about "defending the traditional family" from us.