Friday, February 25, 2011

Obama Stokes the Culture Wars

Barrack Obama, in an act of political interference in the administration of justice, has ordered his Attorney-General to stop defending the Defense of Marriage Act. Obama, apparently, has a problem with this law because he has now dropped all pretense of believing in marriage. Now he wants "same-sex marriage" and he wants it now.

Janice Shaw Crouse writes in the American Spectator, in an article entitled: "Obama Abandons Marriage:"

In an unexpected move (particularly in the midst of the Libyan crisis), President Obama signaled that he thinks the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) is unconstitutional, and he has instructed Attorney General Eric Holder and the Justice Department (DOJ) to cease defending cases brought against DOMA. The wording of this surprise announcement suggests that the decision is another instance of this president's politicizing the administration of justice: the White House ordering the Justice Department what it should do in order to appeal to the extreme elements of its political base. So much for Obama's pivot to the middle, not that there was much doubt about that after his kowtowing to the unions in the Wisconsin imbroglio.

The president declared that Section 3 of DOMA (the part that prohibits the federal government from recognizing same-sex "marriages") "violates the equal protection component" of the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution. This is the president's latest bow to "gay" rights activists and his latest move out of mainstream values over to far-left policies that undermine the nation's foundations and social structure. This is but the president's latest move to disregard the laws of this country; he has repeatedly put his radical ideology and personal preferences ahead of the expressed will of the nation's citizens. He seems determined to shape America into his image, regardless of what voters want or what the Constitution and national laws state.

Let us be clear about some things. Obama claims to be a Christian. Millions doubt his sincerity, but let us take his profession at face value. This means he is now a heretic, infected by the plague of postmodern constructivism that is currently ravaging liberal Protestantism. He denies that marriage is designed by God with procreation at its center and claims that it is any close relationship between two or more people that the Government and Courts currently say it is.

Fine, it is a free country (so far) and Obama is free to break a campaign promise and reveal himself to be a very different man than many voters thought he was. It is wrong, but he can do that. In a democracy, the people simply note that the next election is in 2012.

I just want to point out that Evangelicals or the Christian Right did not start this fight. Nobody on the conservative side manufactured this issue out of thin air in order to stoke the fires of the culture wars. With all the economic, national security and other issues clamoring for his attention, Barrack Obama has pushed this to the top of his priority list and has chosen to get in the face of Catholics, Evangelicals and conservatives of all stripes. Just remember that. We did not start it.

Two other quick notes on this depressing move was made now. First, I think he probably intended it to fly under the radar with all the Middle East crises dominating the news agenda. He knows it is a vote-loser and his preference would be to sneak it through. Second, by not waiting until the second term (which apparently was his first plan), it signals that he is growing increasingly doubtful that there will even be a second term. In this, I think he is right; but while it would be going too far to claim that this move is akin to running up the white flag, it certainly signals existential angst in the war councils of this most hard-nosed of culture warriors.

1 comment:

penny farthing said...

Also, the president can't declare a law unconstitutional. That's not one of his powers.