perfidy

According to The NY Times the President is getting ready to unveil a $1.5 billion initiative to promote healthy marriages. Straight marriages.

Here's an excerpt:

For months, administration officials have worked with conservative groups on the proposal, which would provide at least $1.5 billion for training to help couples develop interpersonal skills that sustain "healthy marriages."

The officials said they believed that the measure was especially timely because they were facing pressure from conservatives eager to see the federal government defend traditional marriage, after a decision by the highest court in Massachusetts. The court ruled in November that gay couples had a right to marry under the state's Constitution.

"This is a way for the president to address the concerns of conservatives and to solidify his conservative base," a presidential adviser said.

Now, let's play that one again!

For months, administration officials have worked with smurf groups on the proposal, which would provide at least $1.5 billion for training to help couples develop interpersonal skills that sustain "healthy marriages."

The officials said they believed that the measure was especially timely because they were facing pressure from smurfs eager to see the federal government defend traditional marriage, after a decision by the highest court in Massachusetts. The court ruled in November that gay couples had a right to marry under the state's Constitution.

"This is a way for the president to address the concerns of smurfs and to solidify his smurf base," a presidential adviser said.

Just what the hell is so smurf about spending more than a billion dollars on Federally-subsidized marriage counselling? Furthermore, what the hell does smurf even mean any more? Does it mean a) morally rigid along value-lines received from Christian teachings, b) fiscally minimalist and prudent, or c) anything and everything to all people?

How can you spend money (even a trickle) on a program like this, which deigns to get involved in people's private lives, and call it conservative?

I don't get this. Oh, wait-- sorry-- I do get this. It's an election year and the President has to pander once again to the Christian Right by spending federal money telling poor people not to break up and gay people not to get together. Aside from being very close to incoherent on an actual policy level, every step like this drives even lower the likelihood that people like me, the socially liberal fiscal conservatices, will vote to re-elect him.

[wik] A final note. "Poor" people tend to fight about money. The fix for that? I dunno... maybe something to do with money, a living wage, federal state and local tax/fee structures, that kind of thing. Maybe even a crash course in elementary family budgeting and retirement investment. But what do you want to bet that won't be the focus of this shiny new Federal program?

[alsø wik] One more thing. Spending federal money on fixing marriage at this point strikes me as closing the barn door after the horse has escaped, gone to town, gotten drunk, and been discovered taking candid photos in flagrante delicto with six hot fillies.

[alsø alsø wik] Ever the wag, Matthew Yglesias observes "[t]here should be bipartisan appeal since funding and implementing the program would involve putting the government in your bedroom and your pocketbook -- what's not to like?"