CALIFORNIA, AND OBAMA'S DILEMMA – AT 9:18 A.M. ET:  Remember when California was a pretty conservative place run by a governor named Reagan?  Ah, for serenity.   Now a judicial decision in California poses a political problem for the president.  Go to bed with activists, wake up with a headache.  From The Politico:

The culture war is back.

A federal judge’s ruling Wednesday striking down California’s ban on same-sex marriage is a historic and possibly pivotal legal victory for gay rights advocates, but the decision also poses a formidable threat to President Barack Obama’s strategy of relegating divisive social issues to the back burner.

If that was the strategy, the president certainly pursued it ineptly.  Remember when he had a beer summit at the White House over the actions of a Cambridge, Massachusetts, police officer?  Hey, there was an example of relegating a divisive social issue to the back burner, wasn't it?  Not exactly.

U.S. District Court Judge Vaughn Walker’s decision is just the latest in a series of rulings and high-profile legal challenges drawing public attention to gay rights issues in a sustained way for the first time since San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom grabbed headlines in 2004 by okaying same-sex marriages in that city.

As gay and lesbian activists celebrate what they hope is the leading edge of a wave of momentous court rulings and legislative successes, they remain uneasy with Obama’s nuanced position on gay marriage.

During the 2008 campaign, Obama took what many on both sides of the gay marriage debate viewed as a straddle. He publicly announced his opposition to same-sex marriage, but he also said that he opposed the California ballot measure seeking to ban it, Prop. 8— the same ban Walker ruled unconstitutional Wednesday.

Obama explained the seeming contradiction at the time by saying that he opposes any measure singling out a group for adverse treatment by amending the U.S. Constitution or a state constitution, as Prop 8. did, even though legal experts said that was the only viable way to block gay marriage in California.

This is what happens when you talk out of both sides of your mouth.  A gay-marriage opponent said:

“He’s got to show his cards,” said Brian Brown of the National Organization for Marriage. “Do you support one San Francisco judge in imposing his view of marriage on the rest of the country or not?... Anyone who just looks at this from an objective point of view realizes the president’s position is untenable.”

And so it is.  I wrote about this at the Angel's Corner this morning.  The country is suddenly beset with a raft of divisive social issues that cannot help the president, except for rallying what is left of his base.  There's the Arizona immigration law, the mosque at Ground Zero, the firing of Shirley Sherrod, the accusation that black members of Congress are being unfairly targeted in ethics probes.  The eruption of these issues comes at a time when Mr. Obama's standing among whites is at an all-time low.  He is even losing support among Hispanics.

The White House has fumbled these issues.  Enough fumbles, you lose the game.

August 5, 2010