Obama Supports Human Rights – A New Direction Or Political Maneuvering

When I heard that President Obama was supporting gay marriage I immediately was skeptical about the motivations. My intuition told me that this move would boost his poll numbers with his core demographic, liberals. This is akin to a Republican candidate taking an extreme right position on an issue such as medicaid or abortion. In other words, he is consolidating his base for the upcoming election. A few months prior we saw President Obama coming out in defense of Woman’s rights as the Republicans made blunders in that area of policy. Now we have the President coming to the defense of the children of illegal Immigrants. My intuition tells me that this is just another consolidating move and I am hesitant to heap praise to the President or the Democratic party. However, these positions have a broader message embedded in them. The Democratic party is responding to a shift in the mentality of it’s base. As the left adopts a stance that supports gay, woman and immigrant rights, the party has responded to meet those needs. That’s hopeful for two reasons. A significant portion of the voting population actually supports universal human rights. It also shows that our political system might be beaten, but it is not broken.

In 5 months we will know if their strategy has worked, but I think this akin to a virus entering their host. Even if the motives of the Democrats are not altruistic, the message will alter the shape and platform of the party over the long run. Candidates will run on human rights platforms and be elected for that reason. It might even force the Republicans to move away from the far right toward a more fiscally conservative Republican base. This next election is going to say a lot about the future of partisan politics in America.