Interesting statement from Van Jones, here.
“I think if President Obama came out as gay, he wouldn’t lose the black vote,” a cheerful Van Jones told MSNBC this afternoon.
“President Obama is not going to lose the black vote no matter what he does,” he added.
Ann Althouse devoted a post dedicated to dissecting what’s wrong with the first portion of that quote (and there is a lot that is wrong with that first portion): so let me let her get on with that so that I can point out the major problem with the second portion.
Simply put: never tell a politician that, Van Jones. Never, ever, ever, ever tell a politician that. Because what the politician hears is You can do whatever you want and not have to worry about that particular demographic. Politicians are at their best when they’re just a little* afraid of their activists. Especially when they’re not entirely certain about just what it’ll take to set those activists off. To neatly scupper that laudable fear like this is somewhat amateurish…
Oh, right. Van Jones. Silly me.
Moe Lane
*If they’re too afraid of their activists then they’ll never dare defy them when the politician is right and the activists are wrong.
So, according to him, President Obama can never lose the black vote, no matter what. I wonder why, what characteristic draws black voters to him? It would have to be something easily seen by even the most out of touch black voter. Hmm, it certainly is a puzzler all right.
…has Van Jones ever actually SEEN Michelle?
What Jones was saying is that not only is it safe for Obama to finish “evolving” and support gay marriage, aka marriage equality, it is safe for him to come out as gay and he wouldn’t lose the black vote. Based on the accusations HillBuzz has been leveling against Obama, and the untimely deaths of a couple of gay black men in Rev. Wright’s church just as Obama was gearing up to run for president, that statement didn’t seem exaggerated for effect to me.
Nevertheless, it is ironic that the discussion was about the equality of the demographic Obama does not fear, no matter how much he betrays and abuses them: lesbians and gays.
Lesbians and gays are a demographic that Republicans can capture because the gay community actually operates on fiscal conservative principles. Gays know that their own families, religion and governments will turn their backs on them — so gays are forced to be self-reliant, resourceful, entrepreneurial and charitable to gay causes.
When the day comes that gays REALLY want to get some power, all they need to do to throw a scare into Obama and the Democrats is to make a big show of listening to lesbian and gay conservatives.
Heh, the way he phrased that, (“I think if President Obama came out as gay,…”) it doesn’t really come across as a hypothetical.