Democratic Debate Proves Movements Matter

[eridani]

https://ourfuture.org/20151015/democratic-debate-proves-movements-matter

LGBT Equality. A lot has changed since 2008, when candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton both opposed marriage equality for same-sex couples. In both cases, many Americans suspected their opposition was a matter of political expediency, and that both candidates supported marriage equality on a personal level, but doing so publicly was still too politically risky. Since then, Obama became the first sitting US president to champion LGBT equality, and Secretary of State Clinton declared, “Gay rights are human rights.”

In 2008, almost no Democratic presidential candidates supported marriage equality. At Tuesday night’s debate, every Democratic candidate on the stage either supported marriage equality, or at the very least did not oppose it.

The issue didn’t some up in the debate, because the moderator didn’t raise it. There was little need to. That happened because committed LGBT activists worked hard to make support for LGBT equality a “no brainer” for Democrats. Now, opposition to LGBT equality is more of a liability for Republicans.

Democrats didn’t differ all that much with one another during Tuesday night’s debate. The debate lacked the rollicking, unbridled craziness of the Republican debates, the recent antics of House Republicans, or the chaos of the House Speaker race. It was like the difference between dining at the adults table, or ducking mashed potatoes at the kid’s table.

The record-setting 15.3 million viewers who tuned in for the Democratic debate were treated to high-level debate about policy, ideas, and progressive values. Democrats are finally listening to their base, and — no matter who wins the nomination — will offer voters a clear choice next fall

[MisterP]

1. "agenda-setting"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agenda-setting_theory