Agorism
05-10-2012, 03:39 AM
W.H.: Joe Biden forced Obama’s hand on gay marriage
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0512/76103.html#ixzz1uST1JhZc
For President Barack Obama and his team, the decision to back gay marriage came down to a choice between two unpalatable alternatives: Support it and brave the backlash in battleground states where the issue could be a liability — or keep silent and be accused by allies of gutlessness and putting politics over principle.
Administration officials said the president planned to announce his support before the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., this September. But they acknowledge that Vice President Joe Biden did, indeed, force their hand.
The claims about timing contradict senior Democrats and some Obama campaign officials who have said that Obama was undecided about making an announcement before the election to avoid losing religiously conservative swing voters in states like North Carolina, Ohio and Colorado.
(Also on POLITICO: Pols cheer, knock gay marriage news)
Obama’s famous “evolution” on the issue ended about three months ago, they say, after Obama pondered the courage of New York state lawmakers in passing their marriage equality law. This, even though the New York action happened six months before.
Senior officials, speaking under the ground rules of not providing direct quotations, said the political impact of the decision was entirely unpredictable, but that the issue isn’t likely to be a major factor in November’s general election result.
They also said most voters already assume Obama supports gay and lesbian nuptials, blunting the impact of the decision.
They refused to answer detailed questions about the specifics of Obama’s deliberations — or how he overcame his religious concerns, as a Christian, with gay marriage. Around a half-dozen top Obama advisers have been deliberating the timing of making the announcement and planned to do it over the summer.
(PHOTOS: Celebrity tweets on gay marriage)
In the end, people close to the president say, it wasn’t a close call: The core of their argument against Mitt Romney is that he is an untrustworthy politician with no real core of conviction. Obama’s advisers — who are acutely conscious of the media’s criticism despite their professed contempt for the news cycle — simply couldn’t afford to have the president appear like a coward on the front and editorial pages of The New York Times and The Washington Post, according to senior Democrats.
If Biden’s comments were the catalyst for Wednesday’s historic announcement, Jay Carney was the immediate trigger, officials said. The White House press secretary took a serious drubbing on Monday when reporters all but accused the White House of cowardice on the issue.
Obama made his announcement to save Carney, an official joked.
And so the president took the final step Wednesday in his “evolving” views of a major gay rights issue.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0512/76103.html#ixzz1uSTC0ipN
..continued
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0512/76103.html#ixzz1uST1JhZc
For President Barack Obama and his team, the decision to back gay marriage came down to a choice between two unpalatable alternatives: Support it and brave the backlash in battleground states where the issue could be a liability — or keep silent and be accused by allies of gutlessness and putting politics over principle.
Administration officials said the president planned to announce his support before the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., this September. But they acknowledge that Vice President Joe Biden did, indeed, force their hand.
The claims about timing contradict senior Democrats and some Obama campaign officials who have said that Obama was undecided about making an announcement before the election to avoid losing religiously conservative swing voters in states like North Carolina, Ohio and Colorado.
(Also on POLITICO: Pols cheer, knock gay marriage news)
Obama’s famous “evolution” on the issue ended about three months ago, they say, after Obama pondered the courage of New York state lawmakers in passing their marriage equality law. This, even though the New York action happened six months before.
Senior officials, speaking under the ground rules of not providing direct quotations, said the political impact of the decision was entirely unpredictable, but that the issue isn’t likely to be a major factor in November’s general election result.
They also said most voters already assume Obama supports gay and lesbian nuptials, blunting the impact of the decision.
They refused to answer detailed questions about the specifics of Obama’s deliberations — or how he overcame his religious concerns, as a Christian, with gay marriage. Around a half-dozen top Obama advisers have been deliberating the timing of making the announcement and planned to do it over the summer.
(PHOTOS: Celebrity tweets on gay marriage)
In the end, people close to the president say, it wasn’t a close call: The core of their argument against Mitt Romney is that he is an untrustworthy politician with no real core of conviction. Obama’s advisers — who are acutely conscious of the media’s criticism despite their professed contempt for the news cycle — simply couldn’t afford to have the president appear like a coward on the front and editorial pages of The New York Times and The Washington Post, according to senior Democrats.
If Biden’s comments were the catalyst for Wednesday’s historic announcement, Jay Carney was the immediate trigger, officials said. The White House press secretary took a serious drubbing on Monday when reporters all but accused the White House of cowardice on the issue.
Obama made his announcement to save Carney, an official joked.
And so the president took the final step Wednesday in his “evolving” views of a major gay rights issue.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0512/76103.html#ixzz1uSTC0ipN
..continued