Only a year ago Barack Obama still didn't dare support gay marriage. There are few political issues in history on which voters have changed their minds so fast. Liberals are winning this argument in country after country. More Americans now support than oppose gay marriage, says the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. These shifts have thrilled leftwing activists worldwide. Over coffee in dingy offices everywhere, they are debating what they can learn from this triumph. Gay marriage points a way for the left to win on issues from immigration to the “war on drugs”. The lesson: leftists don't need to adopt rightwing policies a la Tony Blair. Instead they need to steal the right's language.
仅仅一年前，巴拉克•奥巴马(Barack Obama)还不敢支持同性婚姻。历史上，选民几乎从没有对哪个政治议题如此迅速地改变态度。在这个问题上，自由派人士正在一个又一个国家占据上风。皮尤宗教信仰与公共生活论坛(Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life)称，如今支持同性婚姻的美国人多于反对者。这一转变令全世界的左翼活动人士感到振奋。他们在地球各个角落的昏暗办公室里喝着咖啡，辩论着他们能从这场胜利得到什么收获。从移民到“反毒品战争”，同性婚姻为左翼人士指明了种种问题上的获胜途径。这个经验就是：左翼人士不必采取托尼•布莱尔(Tony Blair)式的右翼政策。相反，他们所需要的，只是盗用右翼人士使用的语言。