Wake Up

As most everyone knows by now, yesterday President Bush made a speech supporting an amendment to the Constitution that would ban gay marriages.

In today’s Progress Report from americanprogress.org, there was a piece on the issue which began:

With its economic policies failing to lift the economy, its Iraq policy in shambles, and its international credibility shredded by the failure to find WMD, the Bush Administration has done the only thing it knows how to do in a tight spot: head straight for the wedge issue that “satisfies the conservative base.” Despite a President having absolutely no role in the passage of a Constitutional amendment and despite opposition from many of his allies in Congress, the President, who promised to be a “uniter not a divider,” yesterday announced his support for a Constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. American Progress issued a statement in response, saying, “The Constitution has been amended to eliminate slavery, to give women the right to vote, and to secure for every person the equal protection of the laws. It has never been amended to mandate discrimination. Nor should it be.” The announcement was a dramatic election-year shift in the Administration’s previous position that gay marriage was a state issue. His move to a constitutional amendment demonstrates that when the going gets tough, he caves to the right wing of his party. Four years ago, then-Gov. Bush portrayed himself as a centrist in the election. But over the course of his term, he has alienated the mainstream, polarized the population, and lost general public support, leaving him increasingly desperate to tackle issues and policies that play to his conservative base

Go and read the whole things, as they make other good point on the issue.

Personally, I’m disgusted by the whole thing. In an attempt to pander to the worst elements of his party, Bush has decided to attempt to restrict the rights of a certain class of citizens, and wants that restriction to mar the Constitution itself. It’s sickening.

I am glad to see though that certain people who had somehow managed to remain apathetic during all the rest of Bush’s crimes against the American people have finally woken up and gotten angry. Better late than never, and hopefully this will do even more to energize the opposition to Bush than it does to energize his supporters.