Obama made me proud today

If someone were to ask me about the things I didn't like about Obama I could easily provide a list.  Believe me, there are many things he's done over the last three years that have disappointed me.  However, the things that have disappointed me are the things that the Republicans said they would do in the first place so to switch my vote just to spite him would be idiotic.

That being said, the fact that today he went out on a limb and said that he supported marriage equality for all members of my country made me incredibly proud.  I realize that this is an incredible risk for Obama.  There are a lot of independents and centrists that are still bigoted and could vote against him solely for that reason.  So, for him to state unequivocally that separate but equal is not equal is a huge step.  Equality is not a political issue.  Equality is not something that the majority should be able to deny to a group they do not agree with.  Nowadays, the idea of banning interracial marriage is abhorrent to all intelligent members of our society and anyone that was on the wrong side of history is viewed as such.  I believe that that will be the case with gay marriage in another fifty years.

What amazes and saddens me, is that gay rights are still a straw in this presidential election.  As before, gay rights are merely a straw man that Republicans have created to scare a (sadly) large segment of the population into voting for the White Christian Male.  This election can be summed up by the words of the candidates themselves.  Romney said, "Corporations are people, my friend".  Obama said, "Corporations are not people, people are people."