The Disingenuous Obama/Biden Same Sex Marriage Dance

Many have jumped on Vice President Joe Biden's following statement yesterday morning to David Gregory on same sex marriage as evidence the Obama administration is moving toward a pro-same sex marriage stance.  Here's the statement:

“I am absolutely comfortable with the fact that men marrying men, women marrying women, and heterosexual men and women marrying another are entitled to the same exact rights, all the civil rights, all the civil liberties,” .  .  .  .  .”And frankly, I don't see much of a distinction beyond that.” .  .  . “who do you love? And will you be loyal to the person you love?"

It sounds nice, but in my view it's just more of the Obama game of playing the LGBT community for monetary support and votes.  As blogger friend Pam Spaulding noted, Obama wants the GayATM turned back on full throttle.   It's the type of disingenuous political game playing that makes it difficult for me to trust Obama.  It's also a reason why I have a difficult time getting enthusiastic in my support for Obama.  Time and time again, I find myself motivated only by a belief that he's not as bad as the GOP alternative on LGBT issues.  I'm not the only one who sees the cynicism in the statements made by Biden who, may actual believe what he saideven while know that the issue is going nowhere with Obama.  Here are highlights from a piece in The Daily Beast:

The veep added the political caveat: “the president sets the policy” and he did not know whether the administration would back same-sex marriage if they win a second term.

There is absolutely no question that Biden’s response was cleared by the White House. Vice presidents are not allowed to freelance on talk shows, especially on such a sensitive issue. So Obama was sending out Biden to further mollify the gay community without having to actually take a stand himself. It all seems a bit calculating to me.
 

As the culture has shifted—faster than almost anyone would have imagined possible—most national Republicans have abandoned marriage as a wedge issue. You don’t see Mitt Romney bringing it up. The reality of gay and lesbian couples getting hitched in numerous states has proven less threatening than the anticipatory rhetoric.

But polls, including a Pew survey last November, show the public is pretty evenly divided on the issue. With the Catholic Church taking a firm stand against gay marriage, some of the opposition is rooted in religious views. And many states are a long way from blessing such unions. North Carolina votes Tuesday on an amendment to ban gay marriage. (Bill Clinton, who signed the Defense of Marriage Act in 1996, has made robo-calls opposing it.)

In such a climate, the president would be asking for a headache—and possibly reignite the culture wars—if he openly embraced gay marriage. So he had Joe Biden do it on Sunday morning television instead, hoping to reap the benefits without the political pain.

Obama plays with LGBT lives while seemingly not really giving a damn about what actually happens to us.  It's all about political maneuvering and nothing more.