Ed Morrissey has an interesting column in This Week, arguing that Joe Biden’s gay marriage comments may have been a shrewd political calculation as opposed to a slipup during routine bloviation. I think he’s giving Biden too much credit, but there’s definitely a case to be made that this helps the Obama campaign in several ways:
Consider the coincidence of Education Secretary Arne Duncan offering a corroborating point of view the day after Biden’s statement. Brought to MSNBC’s ”Morning Joe” to discuss Teacher Appreciation Week, Duncan was greeted by TIME’s Mark Halperin with this “icebreaker” question: “Do you believe that same-sex men and women should be able to get legally married in the United States?” Despite the tortured syntax of the query and an objection to the question by a ”Morning Joe” panelist, Duncan gave an ironic “I do” in reply, pushing the issue even farther into the public consciousness, and giving Biden some much-needed political cover.
Nor do the coincidences end there. This comes just after the much-publicized departure of foreign policy adviser Richard Grenell from the Romney campaign. …
Even more likely, though, Biden’s gambit was an attempt to keep the media preoccupied with issues other than jobs and the economy. It’s also no coincidence that this eruption came just 48 hours after another disappointing jobs report.
Read the whole thing if you have a chance. Even if Biden’s gay marriage comments weren’t intentional, the Romney campaign will need to be careful with how they proceed on this. According to a new Gallup poll out today, fully half of Americans are in favor of same-sex marriage, compared to 48 percent who oppose. Several of Romney’s most prominent donors are also active in the fight for gay marriage rights.
Many of Obama’s key donors support gay marriage as well. So while the issue is a pleasant distraction for him from economic talk, and yet another opening to bludgeon Romney as far-right and out-of-touch, it also puts the president in a bind. Already some top Obama donors are withholding money from his campaign based on his rejection of a gay rights executive order, Greg Sargent reports. And Obama’s hedging on the gay marriage issue is sure to fuel the perception that he’s choosing politics over principles.
The wild card in all of this that no one is thinking about is the unintended consequences of gay marriage — the end of all existing domestic partner benefits for those who aren't legally married. That is already happening in Massachusetts, with a lot of hard "get married" mandates to couples who otherwise wouldn't have and didn't want to. Mostly heterosexual couples, incidentally — the once-open "our relationship is what we say it is" is now becoming "married" or "unrecognized" and much to the chagrin of many. n nThe University of Massachusetts now requires all couples who wish to rent a university-owned apartment (opposite or same sex) to not only be married but to provide a copy of their marriage license. An individual I know, an International student from Israel, made an interesting point — his marriage license is written in Hebrew. There is no one in the relevant UM office who can read it, and he pointed out to them "it could be my grocery shopping list for all you know." But still, he had to give them a copy of it so that he, his wife, and their baby could rent an apartment. n nNeedless to say, there is a sizable cadre of gays & lesbians who are terrified of this — it is not that they are "in the closet" as much as they are quite private and not have it be anyone's business if that person is their platonic roommate, their lover, or if it is a really complicated relationship somewhere between these two extremes, which it often is. Gay marriage, and the related end of the recognition of all sorts of partnerships shy of this, is going to be opposed by an awful lot of gays & lesbians who don't want their sexual orientation to be official public record, and more importantly don't want to be forced into the rigid "marriage" relationship. n nThey want to be left alone — and there is a growing schism between those gay/lesbian folk who just want to be left alone to live with and love whomever they want to (in private) and the gay/lesbian activists who want to be very visible and "blatant" in their sexuality. In a world that increasingly is concluding that the "hook up" culture, in general, is problematic and that sexuality (of whatever combination) is more about caring and shared emotions than physical acrobatics with an athletic stranger.
Back in 2000 and 2003, Commentary published two articles opposing same-sex "marriage". I guess the zeitgeist finally penetrated the walls of the journal's offices and such articles will no longer see the light of day on its pages. Now I guess they will be beating the drums for SSM – tikkun olan and all that.
Joe Biden is making Obama's life miserable. The last thing he needs is to remind the general public that he holds a mealy mouth position on gay marriage. It only angers everyone on both sides of the ideological fence. The vice president must be a secret Republican. He is doing them so many favors.