Joe Biden's apparent endorsement of marriage equality continues to make matters complicated for the Obama campaign. If you missed the story, here is the Vice President on the issue of marriage equality:
GREGORY: You’re comfortable with same-sex marriage now?
BIDEN: Look, I am Vice President of the United States of America. The president sets the policy. I am absolutely comfortable with the fact that men marrying men, women marrying women and heterosexual men marrying women are entitled to the same exact rights. All the civil rights, all the civil liberties. And quite frankly I don’t see much of a distinction beyond that. [...] I think Will & Grace probably did more to educate the American public than almost anything anybody has done so far. People fear that is different and now they’re beginning to understand.
Since then, both
Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and
HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan have come out in favor or equal marriage rights for gays and lesbians. Things are starting to get pretty sticky as the press and talking heads increasingly want answers on the status of the President's "evolution."
This morning, the subject was a matter of discussion on Morning Joe, with Joe Scarborough asking the question: "When is the President going to be as brave as Dick Cheney?" Meanwhile, the campaign is continuing to walk back Biden's remarks while the press is pounding White House Press Secretary Jay Carney with questions on the issue. Follow me below the fold.
Obama's chief campaign adviser David Axelrod is on the front lines doing damage control after Biden's surprise remarks. Immediately following the comments' airing, he tweeted:
What VP said-that all married couples should have exactly the same legal rights-is precisely POTUS's position.
He continued to try to mop up the mess today in a conference call with reporters.
From the Washington Post:
Axelrod told reporters that Biden’s statements “were entirely consistent with the president’s position, which is that couples who are married, whether they’re gay or heterosexual couples, are entitled to the very same rights and very same liberties.”
Referring to the administration’s stance on the Defense of Marriage Act, which the federal government is appealing., Axelrod said: “The president believes that that law is unconstitutional and that if people are married we ought to recognize those marriages and afford them the rights to which they’re entitled.”
[...]
Though Axelrod sounded reluctant to discuss the issue again Monday — after tweeting about it Sunday — he quickly contrasted the Obama administration’s position on gay rights with Romney’s record.
The former Massachusetts governor “has funded efforts to roll back marriage laws in California and other places,” Axelrod said, adding that Romney “believes that we need a constitutional amendment banning the right of gay couples to marry and would take us backward not forward. There’s a very clear distinction in this race.”
Unfortunately, despite Axelrod's attempt to draw a line of distinction between Obama and Romney (a distinction that is very real to anybody paying attention, of course), the right wing continues to exploit Obama's position.
Such a comparison is laughable given Obama's record on DOMA, DADT, and other LGBT issues, but unfortunately, the President's delay in "evolving" is leaving the campaign vulnerable to such comparisons, and they do resonate with some people.
Meanwhile, Obama's deputy campaign manager Stephanie Cutter was a trainwreck when she spoke with MSNBC's Andrew Mitchell today about the issue. She could not even say if the President was "comfortable," like Biden, with men marrying men and women marrying women.
MITCHELL: The question to Joe Biden was not about civil unions. The question to Joe Biden was about marriage. Marriage is different from civil rights, civil unions, equal protection under the law. Marriage is a sacrament and a legal sacrament that the Vice President was asked about it and he said he had no problem with it. That is not the same.
CUTTER: He said he had no problem with committed couples forming….he was really impressing the same policies as this president, as this administration….
MITCHELL: [Biden said] ‘I’m absolutely comfortable with men marrying men and women marrying women and heterosexual men and women marrying another are entitled to the same equal rights.”… Is the President of the United States comfortable, as the Vice President said, ‘with men marrying men, women marrying women and heterosexual men and women marrying another’?
CUTTER: Andrea, I’m not going to make news on the president’s views on gay marriage today.
And that's not all. During today's White House press briefing, Jay Carney
was pummeled with questions about Obama's "evolving" marriage equality position. Once again, a trainwreck. The press spent 21 of the 44 minutes dwelling on the issue of marriage equality, showing how untenable the President's position has really become.
Here's an excerpt:
And here's the full briefing:
Here's the transcript of Carney's conversation with ABC's Jake Tapper:
TAPPER: And if that is the likely future of the president and this position, given that you don’t have any news to drop on it, or probably his mind has been made up, why not just come out and say it and let voters decide? It seems — it seems cynical to hide this until after the election.
CARNEY: Jake, I think the president’s position is well- known. He’s spoken to this. It’s gotten a great deal of coverage. I don’t have an update to provide you on the president’s position. It is what it was. I’m sorry you don’t want to hear about the president’s support for LGBT rights, because it’s considerable.
TAPPER: That’s not accurate — I — it’s not that I don’t want to hear it. I don’t want to hear the same talking points 15 times in a row.
CARNEY: No, I think the — we’re talking — talking points to you; serious, substantial rights to others, OK? “Don’t ask, don’t tell” — repealing “don’t ask, don’t tell” is a serious matter. The efforts that this administration has taken on behalf of LGBT citizens are a serious matter.
TAPPER: I’m not quibbling with that, Jay. We’re talking about same-sex marriage.
CARNEY: But look, I think that’s the context of this discussion. I just don’t have anything more to give to you on the issue of the president’s views.
TAPPER: Because he’s still evolving, not because you don’t have news for me. It’s because he’s still evolving.
CARNEY: It is as it was, yes.
This issue continues to pick up steam and capture attention. And whatever happens with Amendment One tomorrow will only propel the issue further into the spotlight. It's becoming very clear that the marriage equality issue is not going away for the Obama campaign any time soon. No matter how much they try to ignore it,
not even mentioning Amendment One in the primary blast e-mails today. We can disagree on political strategy. But sometimes you just have to do the right thing.