Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Obama on gay marriage: for it 'fore he was 'gainst it

Via the Huffington Post, Barack Obama told reporters for the Windy City Times during his 1996 Senate seat campaign that he "favor[s] legalizing same-sex marriages, and would fight efforts to prohibit such marriages."

Funny, because he told MTV during the election that he is "not in favor of gay marriage." There's not even room for linguistic weaseling – he didn't just say that he wouldn't support it politically, he said that he outright does not favor it.

Also, back in 1996 he said that not only does he support gay marriage, but that he would fight those who oppose it. Which leaves me a bit puzzled as to where he was when California was debating Proposition 8, whose anti-gay marriage outcome was at least in part influenced by the votes of Obama's most loyal constituency, African-Americans.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

People aren't allowed to change their minds on certain issues? Or do politicians have to cling to a certain point of view from birth to death? Do I have to hold true to everything I was taught in Kindergarten? In High School? At church? Personally, I would be incredibly leery of anyone who has never had a change of heart or someone who cannot consider an issue from multiple points of view.

If you want to argue that Obama's change of heart on gay marriage was entirely self-serving and done to advance his political career, that is one thing, but if you are trying to imply that he's a waffler or a hypocrite, I think you're being awfully ridiculous.

Stephen Smith said...

Had he acknowledged his "change of heart," and perhaps even explained his reasoning, I might believe that it's genuine. But given that he always seems eager to avoid the subject, I'm going to guess it was for political reasons. Presidential politics are, in my opinion, so slimy and dirty that I'm going to assume – until given proof to the contrary – that every "change of heart" is for political reasons.