This is what President Obama said today about the federal government and marriage:
PRESIDENT OBAMA: I think gays and lesbians, uh, have a friend in the White House because I've consistently committed myself to civil unions, making sure that they have the ability to visit each other in hospitals, uh, that they are able to access benefits, uh, that they are, uh, have a whole host of legal rights that they currently, uh, do not have. Uh, I don't think that, uh, it makes sense for, uh, the federal government to get in the business of determining what marriage is, uh, that isn't, uh, traditionally the federal government's role.
I wonder if he even realizes that his parent's marriage occured in 1961, well before the Loving v. Virginia ruling struck down bans on interracial marriage in 1967. His parent's marriage would not have been recongized in several states until the federal government intervened.
Is it not the federal government's role to guarantee the protections outlined in the constitution?
US Constitution, Article XIV Section 1: "No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."
President Obama taught constitutional law. What part of "equal protection of the laws" is he not understanding here?
First Rick Warren. Now he is regurgitating right wing talking points and standing to the right of people like Ted Olson on the most significant civil rights issue of our time. He is pandering when he should show some leadership here. Very sad and disappointing.