Same-Sex Marriage an Awkward Issue for Obama - Political Hotsheet
Over the past two days, two members of President Obama’s administration have - more or less - come out in favor of same-sex marriage.
On Sunday, Vice President Joe Biden stated that he is “absolutely comfortable with the fact that men marrying men, women marrying women, and heterosexual men and women marrying another are entitled to the same exact rights, all the civil rights, all the civil liberties.”
And on Monday, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said flatly that he believes same-sex marriage should be legal. Asked on MSNBC why he had never said so publicly before this morning, Duncan replied, “I don’t know if I’ve ever been asked.”
The president, meanwhile, has been asked plenty of times while in office - and he has always stopped short of supporting same-sex marriage. (He offered ” unequivocal” support for same-sex marriage in 1996, when he was an Illinois State Senate candidate, but later changed his position.) Mr. Obama, who supports civil unions, says he is “evolving” on the issue.
“I struggle with this,” he said in the wake of the repeal of the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy. “I have friends, I have people who work for me who are in powerful, strong, long-lasting gay or lesbian unions. And they are extraordinary people. And this is something that means a lot to them and they care deeply about.”
In an election year, his struggle with the issue is not just a personal one. That was illustrated in what happened after Biden’s comments on Sunday: The vice president’s office insisted that Biden’s comments did not reflect an endorsement of same-sex marriage, arguing they matched the president’s position. The attempt to walk back Biden’s remarks angered gay rights groups, who see the administration as woefully behind the times - and the Democratic base - on the issue.