I know you've all been following the Prop 8 trial in California.  It's fascinating stuff, so if you haven't checked out the Courage Campaign Institutes Prop 8 blog, you should.

Mo Dowd in today's New York Times interviews super-lawyers Olson and Boies about the case.  These are the guys that argued against each other in Bush v. Gore who've teamed up to challenge the constitutionality of California's marriage prohibition, a ban  Boies likens to gay-bashing.

Olson adds: “It has no point at all except some people don’t want to recognize gays and lesbians as normal, as human beings.”

Boies goes on: "The importance of that emotional relationship is so vital to the pursuit of happiness that even prison felons, who aren’t really procreating, have a right to get married.”

When asked about Obama's opposition to gay marriage*, Boies says: “I hope my Democratic president will catch up to my conservative Republican co-counsel.”

Dowd sums up: "Obama sees himself as such a huge change that he can be cautious about other societal changes. But what he doesn’t realize is that legalizing gay marriage is like electing a black president. Before you do it, it seems inconceivable. Once it’s done, you can’t remember what all the fuss was about."

Of course the Prop 8 trial is not about Obama.  It's much bigger than him.  Which is why it's such a shame he has neither courage nor conviction on the issue.

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* Obama told the Chicago Tribune, in an oft-cited quote: "I'm a Christian. And so, although I try not to have my religious beliefs dominate or determine my political views on this issue, I do believe that tradition, and my religious beliefs say that marriage is something sanctified between a man and a woman."  This was back in '07, but Obama has never contradicted it.