I've changed position on Marriage Equality, Offshore Drilling, & more

[philly_bob]

When Bush was in office, I was in favor of allowing "civil unions" with all the rights of marriage, just a different word. I know this was a compromise, especially because I'm hetero. This did not make me popular when I spelled it out in GLBT. I just didn't want to lose another election on a damn "Wedge issue." It was a strategic choice..

Now that Obama's in office, I hereby switch sides, taking the more principled Marriage Equality position.

I'm also switching sides on Offshore Drilling. I opposed offshore drilling with those old-oil idiots in charge, but now that we have some smart guys with a larger agenda, I say allow environmentally responsible offshore drilling to help us out of this economic mess.

Another change: I'm saying out loud, in public, that I'm also for legalizing and taxing marijuana and online gambling. With the religious right in charge, it wasn't even worth bringing these up. Again, anything to get us out of the economic dumpster.

President Barack Obama changes -- well, maybe not everything -- but a hell of a lot.

[Eric J in MN]

1. How is "environmentally responsible offshore drilling"

...different from other offshore drilling?

[philly_bob]

2. Compare offshore drilling endorsed by Cheney & Bush

with offshore drilling endorsed by Gore & RFK Jr..

If you got tree-hugging environmentalists and scientists who agree that a method of offshore drilling is safe for the environment, I'm okay with it.

If you got rapacious, lying corporate bureaucrats who say that a method of offshore drilling is safe for the environment, I'm not okay with it.

It's a matter of adjusting my level of trust in what the government says.

I hope I'm not disappointed.

[Eric J in MN]

3. 'Gore compares offshore drilling to invasion of Iraq'

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0708/Gore_compares_offshore_drilling_to_invasion_of_Iraq.html

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“The idea that we can drill our way out of this is just so absurd,” he said, comparing the push for offshore oil drilling — which has gained popularity and put environmentalists on the defense — to dealing with a hangover by having another drink.

“The defenders of the status quo are the ones who have dug us into this hole,” he said, commenting that Americans have been “so often fooled into finding a remedy for a problem" that has nothing to do with the problem at hand — pointing to the invasion of Iraq when America was attacked by terrorists in Afghanistan as an example.

“The engines of distraction and the great concentrated power of communication that you’ve seen turned on this issue or that issue is already hard at work," he says. "They will say we can’t switch away from oil."
“We have to switch our electricity generation system,” he says, noting that changing transportation fuels will take longer, before reiterating his plan to ensure that “100 percent of our electricity from renewable sources and carbon-constrained fuels over the next 10 years.”
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[philly_bob]

4. Under Bush, I opposed offshore drilling. Under Obama, it's an open question.

I agree with Gore's statement that we have to find alternative sources. I just wonder if there's a hidden clause in Gore's statement -- and in many of our statements over the last seven and a half years -- don't drill "with the Bush crowd in charge" or don't drill "if that's all you're going to do."

It's possible that offshore drilling could be a piece in a full-spectrum energy policy. The problem with Bush's idea of offshore drilling was that's all he wanted to do, and he would have turned the revenues over to the oil companies.

I have no special knowledge of the risks or danger of offshore drilling. I don't know anything more than I knew back in the Bush era when I wrote my legislators asking them to oppose offshore drilling. All that's different is that I trust an Obama government more than a Bush government. That is the point of my OP.

Another example is NAFTA. I think under Bush, NAFTA has been destructive to the American economy. Would it have been destructive if it had been administered by a Gore or an Obama? Again, an open question.