Obama can save traditional marriage

First and foremost we need a positive agenda to strengthen the traditional family which should include a reformulation of the public benefits of marriage so that it is clearly in the interest of a young couple not to live together but to get married.

In addition we need to make divorce tougher. Our government has a rational basis to be on the side against divorce and preserving marriage. We should make exceptions for abuse and other extreme problems but there should be financial penalties for people who want to divorce because "we grew apart" or "we had different goals".

Obama should restate his belief that marriage should remain a unique institution between one man and one woman. He should do so in terms of his faith and also what is best for society.

We need all the Democrats who claim to be "moderate" and "conservative" to pro-actively pursue policies to acheive their stated beliefs.

All along the way, Democrats should define themselves and our values in positive terms and reject the leftwing and rightwing ideologues that aren't rooted in logic or reality.