Convention Watch

So last night marked the end of the Democratic National Convention in Denver, at which Barack Obama accepted his party's nod for the presidency. Shocking, I know - thought he was going to turn them down. I had commented earlier in the election about the lack of mention queer rights had gotten so far in his candidacy, even in the primary, when he hypothetically should have been moving to the left. So I was interested to note two points from last night.

First, when Al Gore - who, sense his failed run for the White House, has been more outspoken on queer rights - took the stage in the night's second biggest speech, he said that if he had been president all people would have been treated equally in his administration. He went through the list (race, gender, etc) and ended in adding sexual orientation. Note that this is in contrast to most of Obama's mentions on civil liberties and ending discrimination.

But then Obama did give a shout-out to the queer rights movement, and maybe a slightly dangerous one. In talking towards the end of the address about finding common ground on divisive issues, Obama said:

"I know there are differences on same-sex marriage, but surely we can agree that our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters deserve to visit the person they love in the hospital and to live lives free of discrimination."

Well, I'm actually not sure that all Americans can agree with that. It's interesting that Obama chose "same sex marriage" rather than, say, civil unions. To me the quote seems to be saying, I'm for gay marriage, you may not be, but let's work it out. In fact, Obama is of course against gay marriage, and is barely in support of civil union rights. So it seems strange that he would choose those particular words, words which may well have put some socially conservative voters off unnecessarily.

Putting that aside, however, it was good to hear him have the courage - in the biggest speech of his life - to bring up the issue, challenging America to move beyond battering each other on this wedge issue and denying basic civil liberties to millions of people.

I will be very interested to see whether Republicans go after this issue during their convention or try to just leave it alone. My hunch is that, in trying to show McCain is a "different" kind of GOPer - a little piece of fiction that needs lots of help to look realistic - they will need to stick to positive issues rather than one which is strictly against something and which makes the 2008 GOP campaign look just like the 2000 and 2004 ones. McCain is also on thin ice with social conservatives and it would make sense for him to not try too hard to rally them on issues which they think he is soft on, and thus remind them why they didn't like him to begin with. National security is the order of the day for Republicans, not social issues, it would seem.