Pretty much.
Back in October, during the catharsis after Virginia gay marriage legalization, I argued that “the political momentum for gay marriage has built so quickly because it has become a treacly feel-good issue for liberal politicians who want to deliver a win to their social-liberal base without actually challenging the mechanisms of power in this country … everybody outside of the religious right has come to support gay marriage, because it feels liberal, progressive, warm, comfortable, human, and uplifting, but it doesn’t cost money to anyone who has real political power.” I framed the argument in material (and probably also cynical) terms: gay marriage is part of a larger strategy to force the broader American public into a kind of D.I.Y. social welfare, in which the government ducks its social responsibilities in the name of “family.” Well, it turns out Barak Obama agrees with me, sort of.
