Politico has a piece on it that begins this way:
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid called Wednesday’s Supreme Court ruling striking down the Defense of Marriage Act “a great, historic day for equality in America.” He went on: “The idea that allowing two loving, committed people to marry would have a negative impact on anyone else, or on our nation as a whole, has always struck me as absurd.”Reid claims it always struck him as absurd yet he voted for the act in 1996. Others who were eager to be seen praising the decision were taking a stance 180 degrees at variance from where they stood ten or fifteen years ago. Senators Chuck Schumer, Dick Durbin, Patrick Leahy, Ben Cardin, Patty Murray, Robert Menendez, Steny Hoyer, and Rosa deLauro, Democrats all, are praising this blow to DOMA even though every one of them supported and voted for it in 1996.
Bill Clinton even signed the bill into law and he, too, is rejoicing at it's demise:
“By overturning the Defense of Marriage Act, the Court recognized that discrimination towards any group holds us all back in our efforts to form a more perfect union,” Clinton said in a statement also signed by Hillary Clinton.President Barack Obama placed a phone call to anti-DOMA activists congratulating them on their victory, but as recently as 18 months ago he was insisting that marriage should be restricted to a union of a man and a woman.
People can certainly "evolve," as president Obama was said to have done, especially if their beliefs are only superficially held in the first place, but it's amazing that so many individuals in one party could evolve so rapidly on a principle that's so fundamental. The rapid change in our elected officials' "convictions" does little to disabuse the average voter of their cynicism about politics and their contempt for leaders who have both eyes perpetually fixed on the political windsock and whose sole principle seems to be to think, say, and do whatever works to keep them in power.
