Mark Silk thinks the stars have aligned against the anti-gay Ugandan bill:
Hillary Clinton proceeded in her “surprise appearance” at the breakfast not just to condemn the bill but to call out Museveni on it, in a sentence heavy with linkages: “And I recently called President Museveni, whom I have known through the prayer breakfast, and expressed the strongest concerns about a law being considered in the parliament of Uganda.” Whereupon Barack Obama, referring specifically to Clinton’s remark in his own prepared remarks, also condemned the bill. (“We may disagree about gay marriage, but surely we can agree that it is unconscionable to target gays and lesbians for who they are — whether it’s here in the United States or, as Hillary mentioned, more extremely in odious laws that are being proposed most recently in Uganda.”)
Some on the left have found both Clinton’s and Obama’s comments lacking, and Jim Burroway over at Box Turtle Bulletin questions whether Coe & Co. are really prepared to put their money where their mouths are. The proof, of course, will depend on what happens in Uganda. But it’s worth noting the extent to which opposition from the American evangelical establishment (including Rick Warren) has shocked and dismayed the bill’s promoters. At this point, all they have left in America is the lunatic fringe. And if the bill passes in anything like its present form, the consequences will be real. A nickel here says Museveni won’t let that happen.