Explaining Obama’s Evolution

The electorate will often forgive—and can even embrace—a clean conversion story, where a politician honestly changes his mind and admits to it. But on marriage, such a story should not be available for the President, who was either alarmingly befuddled for several years or merely lying.
by Thomas Haine
May 15, 2012

After his big announcement on May 9, President Obama now has some serious questions to answer about his position, the first of which is simply, what is marriage? But we should not start this substantive discussion just yet. The president probably believes he can successfully present himself as a sincere new convert to marriage equality who just changed his mind. He was a reluctant bigot, his supporters could even say, but now he has sincerely seen the light (and so, he seems to imply, should we). But if we focus on the timeline of the last few years, any nice conversion story becomes patently absurd.

In 1996, Obama affirmed “I favor legalizing same-sex marriages, and would fight efforts to prohibit such marriages.” (In another document that year he promised his support for a gay marriage resolution in Illinois.) But only two years later, on another questionnaire, he was just “undecided.” Then in 2004, he stated, “I am not a supporter of gay marriage as it has been thrown about, primarily as a strategic issue.” In 2006 he wrote “it is my obligation … to remain open to the possibility that my unwillingness to support gay marriage is misguided.” In 2008 at Saddleback Church, he said “I believe that marriage is the union between a man and a woman.” Again that same year to MTV, “I believe that marriage is the union between a man and a woman. I am not in favor of gay marriage.”

Then, two years after his election, Obama’s public evolution began. In October 2010: “I have been to this point unwilling to sign on to same-sex marriage primarily because of my understandings of the traditional definitions of marriage. But I also think you’re right that attitudes evolve, including mine. … I think it’s fair to say that it’s something that I think a lot about.” In December 2010, he said, “My feelings about this are constantly evolving. I struggle with this.” In June 2011, White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer stated, “The president has never favored same-sex marriage. He is against it. The country is evolving on this, and he is evolving on it.” On October 3, 2011, Obama said, “I’m still working on it.” For the next few months it was often reported, and never rejected, that Obama’s opinion was still evolving. Then last week, the administration was lulled out of its slumber by Joe Biden’s bumbling remark on May 6 (which seemed to offer his support for gay marriage), but stuck to the old position that Obama’s opinion was still evolving. Jay Carney stated on May 7 that the President’s opinion “is what it was.” Then, two days later, Obama spoke: “I think same-sex couples should be able to get married.” the rest

So, to summarize: Obama was for gay marriage, before he was undecided, before he was against it, before his feelings were evolving again, before he was both against it and evolving at the same time, before he was simply working on it, before his position was “what it was,” before he was for it again, 16 years after the saga began.

Obama’s Contempt for the Voters