Quote:
Originally Posted by Sidd Finch
For a politician who had obvious statewide and national ambitions? Bullshit. At the time, people were wondering if taking that stand would kill his career. No one expected so much progress to happen so quickly. Just a couple of years beforehand, California voters overwhelmingly passed an anti-gay marriage initiative. A couple of years later, they passed another one (the first was kicked as unconstitutional, the second amended the constitution).
Those who called Newsom's actions a political move had to assume that the end of his political ambitions was the job he already had, as mayor.
|
You are correct that Newsom’s actions were widely interpreted at the time as career-suicidal. Some wag remarked that he had done a great job in securing the post of HHS secretary in the first Jon Stewart administration. It is only in retrospect that we can see Newsom was going the way the country would head. So, I say it was a principled stance on his part, and self-sacrificial. I thought he’d not get a statewide office for 20 years, but that’s because I’ve consistently underestimated the silliness of the state GOP in candidate selection.
I also think he was without legal authority to do what he did, and that the Cal Supremes were right to issue a stay until there was a judicial determination. I’m glad the good guys ultimately won, but I do a lot of hand-wringing about the good guys using the wrong tools, and I don’t think you can engage in civil disobedience when cloaked in government power. But all the finger-wagging that needed to be done was accomplished by the SCOCA.
