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.
僅僅一年前，巴拉克•歐巴馬(Barack Obama)還不敢支持同性婚姻。歷史上，選民幾乎從沒有對哪個政治議題如此迅速地改變態度。在這個問題上，自由派人士正在一個又一個國家佔據上風。皮尤宗教信仰與公共生活論壇(Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life)稱，如今支持同性婚姻的美國人多於反對者。這一轉變令全世界的左翼社運人士感到振奮。他們在地球各個角落的昏暗辦公室裏喝著咖啡，辯論著他們能從這場勝利得到什麼收穫。從移民到「反毒品戰爭」，同性婚姻爲左翼人士指明瞭種種問題上的獲勝途徑。這個經驗就是：左翼人士不必採取東尼•布萊爾(Tony Blair)式的右翼政策。相反，他們所需要的，只是盜用右翼人士使用的語言。
