The Morning Plum: Will gay marriage force Romney on to culture war footing?

[ProSense]

The Morning Plum: Will gay marriage force Romney on to culture war footing?

By Greg Sargent

The papers are filled with articles gaming out whether Obama’s big announcement yesterday puts him at political risk, but the other question is this: Will it force Mitt Romney on to a culture war footing when he’d rather be talking about the economy?

Check out this interview with a Colorado affiliate, in which Romney testily snapped at the reporter: “Aren’t there issues of significance you’d like to talk about? The economy? The growth of jobs?”

The question that irked Romney was about medical marijuana, but it came after a long discussion about gay marriage that seemed to leave Romney increasingly irked. As even righty blogger Allahpundit points out, the exchange shows that Romney just doesn’t want to talk about the issue or any other social issues.

But guess who does want to talk about gay marriage, and even make it central to the campaign? The National Organization for Marriage:

“President Obama has now made the definition of marriage a defining issue in the presidential contest, especially in swing states like Ohio, North Carolina, Virginia, Florida and Nevada,” said Brian S. Brown, the president of the National Organization for Marriage.

Obviously the economy will still be the driving issue in this campaign, but social conservatives are going to try to make gay marriage a “defining” one, as NOM puts it, and it will be interesting to see how Romney handles it. Obama’s embrace of full equality yesterday sets the stage for a very sharp contrast between the presidential candidates on one of the most important civil rights issues of our time, one that could play into Dem efforts to paint Romney and the GOP as hidebound, trapped in the past, and hostage to extreme elements.

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/post/the-morning-plum-will-gay-marriage-force-romney-on-to-culture-war-footing/2012/05/10/gIQAtwORFU_blog.html

[DCKit]

1. RMoney can't talk about "people issues".

When forced to do so, it only proves how out-of-touch he is with real, live people.

When (if?) the Teahadii ever wake up and realize the far right wants to relieve them of SS, Medicare, their government pensions and every other "entitlement", the snap back to reality is going to break their necks.