Politics 201

Joe Biden appeared on Meet the Press yesterday and made a big splash by endorsing gay marriage. This is the sort of thing that drives me buggy about American journalism – a scripted performance by an elected official on a program known to act as a handmaiden to power. These days it is David Gregory playing the part of Tim Russert.

This is politics, of course. There is no disagreement within the administration about gay marriage. More likely they, like most power centers in the country, are disinterested. It’s a wedge issue, and important in politics, and not beyond.

Secondly, the Vice President tackles this issue because it is too hot for the president to handle. Call him Spiro Biden if it helps to understand the matter.

Third, Obama has been indifferent to gay marriage during his presidency, or better said, disinterested. But campaign time is approaching, and his campaign team is busy assembling his voting blocs. He’s gone after youth on TV and in a popular magazine, and now the LBGT community via Biden.

And finally, there will be those who remind complain that Obama let us down by not acting on his campaign rhetoric … oh, wait. His campaign rhetoric was “hope and change.” That was a brilliant campaign ad campaign of the year, as a matter of fact, beating out Apple and a few other consumer product companies. The message was purposely vague, allowing people to read their own aspirations into it.

Later, when Obama turned out to be Bill Clinton without the hard-on, he could always say that he never promised anything. Indeed, I voted for the man, and had hopes and aspirations, but by the end of 2008 was awakened.