Forcing Obama's Hand on Gay Marriage [View all]
Even though Axelrod says that Obama has never been comfortable opposing same-sex marriage, it was not until Biden made some unscripted remarks in support of gay marriage on Meet the Press, in early May, 2012, that the President decided that he could no longer stay quiet, no longer occupy a permanent middle ground. His perpetual state of evolution on the issue was an untenable construct that he had maintained perhaps longer than was politically prudent. Bidens surprise TV remarks were inspired by an emotional question-and-answer exchange that Biden had at an event in Los Angeles, at the home of a gay couple with two children, several days before the interview. Afterward, according to Becker, Valerie Jarrett was furiouseven though she supported the Presidents new positionand accused Biden of being disloyal for upstaging the President.
But for Michelle Obama, Becker writes, the whole Biden incident was a blessing in disguise: she recounts to aides that she told her husband, Enjoy the day, just before his interview with Roberts. You are free.
The President didnt see it exactly that way, and was careful to couch his views in personal termsas he has been advised to do by none other than Ken Mehlman, the former Republican National Committee Chairman and President George W. Bushs political director, who was also working on the Prop. 8 case after having come out as gay. Obama ended up giving what Becker calls a carefully calibrated and incremental endorsement, saying in the interview: I continue to believe that this is an issue that is going to be worked out at the local level, because historically this has not been a federal issue, whats recognized as a marriage. While the Presidents statement proved hugely beneficial to the marriage-equality movement generally, his caveat ended up being a central element in the brief filed by the supporters of Prop. 8: their point was that even the President of the United States believed that people of good will could feel differently about same-sex marriagethat is, that it was not a simple matter of anti-gay discriminationand that it was a state question, rather than a federal one.
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