Via Greg Hengler, a video garnish to Ed’s earlier post from today’s presser. Watch for the part at around 2:45 where he endorses the core argument of gay-marriage supporters — “[gays] have got to be treated like every other American” — while steadfastly refusing to call himself a gay-marriage supporter. Has there been any moment like this in recent U.S. history, where it’s so obvious that the president is lying about his true position on a given issue that he feels free to argue that position at White House press conferences? We’re all in on the joke by now, I guess he figures, so why keep up anything more than the barest pretense? The next time he claims his feelings about this are still “evolving,” he might as well grin, wink, and elbow the person next to him. In fact, he’s already basically doing that: Check out the last 20 seconds or so here, where he ends up joking with reporters about the fact that his position on this will, at some point, certainly change. It’s not a matter of if, but when. Just … not today.
Be sure to watch the whole clip, too, to see how his dissembling leads him into legal incoherence. His comments about New York make it sound like he’s a federalist on this issue, preferring to let states vote it out. Does anyone believe, though, that The One would object to a U.S. Supreme Court decision holding that gay marriage bans violate the Equal Protection Clause? That would have the effect of legalizing SSM in all 50 states, precisely the opposite of O’s supposedly favored outcome, and yet somehow I can’t imagine him being broken up about it. And a bonus irony: His refusal to defend DOMA in the courts is predicated on that very idea — that gays are a minority that deserve greater protection under the EPC by having courts apply “heightened scrutiny” to laws that target them. If Obama’s (and Holder’s) view of equal protection prevailed, New Yorkers never would have had a chance to vote. So he’s lying about this too. Even on an issue where I agree with him, he’s embarrassing.
