President Obama is Not to Blame for Marriage Equality's Loss in Maine

by Alex Davidson · 2009-11-04 08:19:00 UTC
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ObamaI knew this would happen: folks would blame President Obama for our loss in Maine last night. My response: it’s not his fault, it’s ours.

We were the people who came up with the commercials. We plotted the strategy. We met people on the ground, knocked on doors. So why, when we lose, do we blame someone who had nothing to do with our campaign?

If you’re angry that Obama didn’t support us, that’s one thing, but blaming him for our loss is another. That’s almost like saying then V.P. Al Gore would’ve won the 2000 presidential election had Ralph Nader not run; it just doesn’t make sense.

It’s time that the gay community started fighting the fight and not blaming others when we lose.

Garden State Equality’s decision to immediately run pro-marriage advertisements following the election of Republican Chris Christie is a great move. Get out first. Don’t wait and be reactive, on the defensive. Why should we be waiting until people challenge our rights in each state. Let’s get out there now and fight for our rights!

The best example I’ve seen of this is Californians Against Hate and its founder, Fred Karger. Karger, a former Republican political consultant, has taken the fight to the likes of the National Organization for Marriage, tirelessly fighting to have contributors to NOM’s campaigns revealed.

That is no easy task. Fred does his research, like trolling through campaign finance reports and finding out who donated to anti-marriage causes, then publicizing who they are and enacting boycotts of any companies involved. Fred fights anti-marriage folks with smart tactics and uses the media to his advantage: things we seem to be unable to do as a broader movement.

That is the stuff that we should be doing. Like Barney Frank said, a march on Washington won’t do much but staying home and lobbying individual members of Congress – a tactic used by the NRA – would have a lot more impact.

I’m sick and tired of losing these fights and I’m sick and tired of hearing the same reason for our losses: someone didn’t help us. Too bad President Obama wasn’t president last year, because then we could have blamed him for the passage of Proposition 8 in California.

(Photo courtesy of whitehouse.gov)

Alex Davidson is a writer who has written for Forbes magazine, and the Wall Street Journal. He is the past president of the NY Chapter of the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association.
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