Obama's Social Conservatism

TNC gives some historical perspective:

The obvious thing that separates Obama from many conservatives, is marrying a belief in individual responsibility with the notion that government should do more that just get out of the way. No disrespect to Obama, but this kind of "conservatism" is unoriginal, and is as old as black American political thought, itself. It's likely as old as American political thought, but I'm talking here about what I know.

Frederick Douglass didn't simply believe that Union forces should march through the South freeing slaves, he believed that the slave, themselves, had a responsibility to fight for their freedom. Harriet Tubman did not need to read "Self-Reliance," to understand that her freedom, and the freedom of black people, would ultimately be in their own hands. Indeed Tubman and Douglass believed (correctly) that unless the slaves fought, in some form, they wouldn't be free.

This certainly resonates with me and the gay civil rights question.