“At a certain point, I’ve just concluded that for me personally it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same-sex couples should be able to get married.”It’s a sentence full of uneasiness — lots of padding (“At a certain point,” “I’ve just concluded,” “it is important,” “to go ahead and affirm”) and unnecessary qualifications (“for me personally,” “for me”). But look at the last ten words: “I think same-sex couples should be able to get married.” I am happy to see President Obama on the right side of history, at last.
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
At last
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I was struck by the hedging, too, but you're the only person I've seen write about it. I wonder if all the qualifier mean the opposition will cut him any slack on this... Not!
Do you think it will help create any sympathy with the fence-sitters? Do you think his communication team had him speak this way purposefully?
I do think the phrasing is meant to suggest a difficult decision, and I don’t for a minute think that the Biden and Duncan comments were spontaneous utterances. That Obama is the first president to support equal marriage though makes me pretty much willing to overlook whatever plotting and scheming might be involved.
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