Carney: The President Has Been Clear That His Position Is Unclear

Finally, clarity. For years, many civil libertarians have denounced President Barack Obama for his failure support same-sex marriage and over two years of opposing the claims of gay and lesbian soldiers in courts. He still refuses to recognize same-sex marriage but White House Spokesman Jay Carney has finally cleared up the confusion. This week Carney dismissed suggestions that the President’s position claiming to support gay rights but not supporting same-sex marriage is confusing. Carney insisted Obama has been “very clear that his position is evolving.”

Carney was refusing to answer the simple question of whether Obama supported same-sex marriage in 1996 on a questionnaire.

This Kerry-esque position only magnifies how politics and not principle are driving the President’s positions, yet again. What is clear is that the Administration continues to oppose arguments that sexual orientation should be treated like gender or race in protection from discrimination. The President continues to play Hamlet on the Potomac with the core civil liberties of gay and lesbian citizens. As on the President’s position on torture, these are fundamental matters of principle that demand an honest answer.

I can understand if the President has moral or philosophical objections to same-sex marriage — even if I disagree with them. However, this is a threshold question that is answered by one’s views of morality or philosophy. Clearly, that question should have been answered in the President’s mind years ago (as it appears to have been in 1996). It is the politics that remain unclear for the President. That much is quite clear.

Jonathan Turley