Did Obama Announce the SCOTUS Nominee to Distract Us from Prop 8?

With all this talk of Sotomayor, we've neglected the other big story from yesterday: Proposition 8 was upheld in California. Maybe this makes me a cynic, or even close to a conspiracy theorist, but I wonder if Obama deliberately announced her nomination yesterday so that Sotomayor would dominate the news cycle, and he wouldn't be forced to comment on the gay marriage ban.

Obama has been relatively mum about gay marriage recently. According to a New York Times article from earlier this month:

While Mr. Obama has said he is “open to the possibility” that his views on same-sex marriage are misguided, he has offered no signal that he intends to change his position ... Anything substantive he might say on same-sex marriage—after the Iowa ruling, the White House put out a statement saying the president “respects the decision”—would be endlessly parsed. If Mr. Obama were to embrace same-sex marriage, he would be seen as reversing a campaign position and alienating some moderate and religious voters he has courted.

What do you think, ladies? Was the announcement of Sotomayor timed so that Obama could ignore the California conundrum, or was it a coincidence? Tobias Wolff, a law professor and Obama's campaign advisor on gay rights, told the Times about Obama's gay-marriage stance: "I think [Obama] has a genuine sense ... that in order to move these issues forward you need broader buy-in than you are going to get if you poke a stick in too many people's eyes." But is he pulling the wool over those eyes instead?

Comments

What do you think, ladies?

By: Caerolle | Thu, 05/28/2009 - 14:03

hmmm, apparently they think nothing?

personally, it never ceases to amaze me that ppl expect Pres O to become an ally of same-sex marriage! he said he was against it all along, and tho apparently some pl felt that he was just being coy until after the election, i never doubted him...this seems to be a value of his, and he seems to stay pretty true to himself, only changes his mind if he feels differently about the issues, not to please a constituency, and as Jessica says, he doesnt seem to have much changed his mind...

i supported him like crazy in the primaries and the general, and feel we are blessed to have this man as President for many, many reasons, but IMO he isnt particulary progressive on gay rights, and definitely seems unwilling to expend any policial capital over them~

I think it was to distract...

By: irobert | Thu, 05/28/2009 - 07:35

But the Prop 8 decision, outside the gay community, was never going to beat the NoKo's nuke test in the press. If he was distracting from something, it was that not this.

Not convinced, but maybe.

By: K_Allen | Thu, 05/28/2009 - 01:52

I wonder if he timed it the other way around -- announcing Sotomayor the day before the Prop 8 decision so that Prop 8 could deflect some of the attention. Maybe it was a little bit of both.

dont know if you are a cynic...

By: Caerolle | Wed, 05/27/2009 - 20:46

however, i was very disappointed that D-X didnt cover the CA decision other than linking to something...E.J. seems to no longer be around, or the gay interns who used to guest-post on GLBTQ issues, or maybe it would have been covered...
as usual, i heard it first on Jezebel, and it has been covered there in multiple posts...the most recent makes a good case for same-sex marriage rights being a feminist issue, too, so maybe the D-X bloggers can get some ideas from this post to get them started:
http://jezebel.com/5271544/how-social-conservatives-are-ruining-marriage

You're a cynic

By: bowseat93 | Wed, 05/27/2009 - 18:50

I believe the reporting I've heard that suggests that the Sotomayor announcement was timed to reflect Congress return from recess; the President's travel schedule; and the White House desire to have the confirmation happen over the summer so that Sotomayor can particpate in the fall session of the Supreme Court.