Valerie
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- Sep 17, 2008
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May 9, 2012
Since stepping on to the national stage in 2004 when he ran for the Senate in Illinois, Barack Obama has shifted his views on whether same-sex couples should have the legal right to marry. “My feelings about this are constantly evolving,” Obama said about same-sex marriage in December of 2010.
“For me personally, it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same-sex couples should be able to get married.”
It is not clear whether Obama still believes, as he said in 2006, that “decisions about marriage should be left to the states as they always have been.”
The evolution of Obama s stance on gay marriage - NBC Politics
...
President Barack Obama maintained in a new interview that he “evolved” on gay marriage, despite a top aide’s assertion in a new book that he was “bullshitting” in 2008 when he opposed the unions.
Obama told BuzzFeed that longtime political guru David Axelrod didn’t accurately characterize his position when Axelrod wrote in his new book that Obama shifted on the issue for political gains. But the President proved unable to explain why he moved away from supporting the unions despite supporting them as a state Senate candidate in 1996.
“I think David is mixing up my personal feelings with my position on the issue,” Obama said. “I always felt that same-sex couples should be able to enjoy the same rights, legally, as anybody else and so it was frustrating to me not to, I think, be able to square that with what were a whole bunch of religious sensitivities out there.”
Barack Obama Maintains He Evolved on Gay Marriage Despite Axelrod Book
...
President Obama predicted the Supreme Court will "shift" on same-sex marriage when it interview with Buzzfeed News. "It's time to recognize that, under the equal protection clause of the United States, same-sex couples should have the same rights as anybody else."
"I think that the courts at the federal level will have something to say..." Mr. Obama said.
"You know, these are the kinds of things you learn as you... move forward in public life: that sometimes you can't split the difference. That sometimes you just have to be very clear that this is what's right. And what I'm very proud of is to see how rapidly the country has shifted and maybe the small part that I've played, but certainly my Justice Department and others have played, in this administration in getting to where we need to be," he said.
At one time, he said, he believed that backing civil unions was "a sufficient way of squaring the circle," on the issue. He did not publicly back same-sex marriage until 2012.
Obama predicts Supreme Court shift on same-sex marriage - CBS News
Since stepping on to the national stage in 2004 when he ran for the Senate in Illinois, Barack Obama has shifted his views on whether same-sex couples should have the legal right to marry. “My feelings about this are constantly evolving,” Obama said about same-sex marriage in December of 2010.
“For me personally, it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same-sex couples should be able to get married.”
It is not clear whether Obama still believes, as he said in 2006, that “decisions about marriage should be left to the states as they always have been.”
The evolution of Obama s stance on gay marriage - NBC Politics
...
President Barack Obama maintained in a new interview that he “evolved” on gay marriage, despite a top aide’s assertion in a new book that he was “bullshitting” in 2008 when he opposed the unions.
Obama told BuzzFeed that longtime political guru David Axelrod didn’t accurately characterize his position when Axelrod wrote in his new book that Obama shifted on the issue for political gains. But the President proved unable to explain why he moved away from supporting the unions despite supporting them as a state Senate candidate in 1996.
“I think David is mixing up my personal feelings with my position on the issue,” Obama said. “I always felt that same-sex couples should be able to enjoy the same rights, legally, as anybody else and so it was frustrating to me not to, I think, be able to square that with what were a whole bunch of religious sensitivities out there.”
Barack Obama Maintains He Evolved on Gay Marriage Despite Axelrod Book
...
President Obama predicted the Supreme Court will "shift" on same-sex marriage when it interview with Buzzfeed News. "It's time to recognize that, under the equal protection clause of the United States, same-sex couples should have the same rights as anybody else."
"I think that the courts at the federal level will have something to say..." Mr. Obama said.
"You know, these are the kinds of things you learn as you... move forward in public life: that sometimes you can't split the difference. That sometimes you just have to be very clear that this is what's right. And what I'm very proud of is to see how rapidly the country has shifted and maybe the small part that I've played, but certainly my Justice Department and others have played, in this administration in getting to where we need to be," he said.
At one time, he said, he believed that backing civil unions was "a sufficient way of squaring the circle," on the issue. He did not publicly back same-sex marriage until 2012.
Obama predicts Supreme Court shift on same-sex marriage - CBS News
