Dick Cheney In a Tie With President Obama on Gay Marriage

Former Vice President Dick Cheney, in an appearance today at the National Press Club, offered support for marriage equality:

"I think that freedom means freedom for everyone," replied the former V.P. "As many of you know, one of my daughters is gay and it is something we have lived with for a long time in our family. I think people ought to be free to enter into any kind of union they wish. Any kind of arrangement they wish. The question of whether or not there ought to be a federal statute to protect this, I don't support. I do believe that the historically the way marriage has been regulated is at the state level. It has always been a state issue and I think that is the way it ought to be handled, on a state-by-state basis. ... But I don't have any problem with that. People ought to get a shot at that."

As someone who believes that marriage equality is a civil rights issue, I might quibble with the details of Cheney's statement, but the spirit is the same. Good for him.

I would like to point out to others, like Sam Stein and my friend Lee Stranahan, that Cheney's position is not more liberal than President Obama's. I would place them in a tie. While that doesn't grant the President "head of the table" status at our next "Drinking Liberally" meeting, it is more accurate.
Cheney's statement would seem to necessarily include opposition to the Defense of Marriage Act, which matches the President's stated support for a legislative repeal of DOMA.

The President is also on record as opposing Proposition 8, and does not support bans on gay marriage. It is noteworthy that both Robert Gibbs and David Axelrod claim not to have spoken to the President about the California Supreme Court's decision upholding Prop 8.

I do agree with Lee about this:

...his position on this issue is wrong and looking more wrong as the weeks progress. The best place for a politician to be on civil rights issues is slightly ahead of the curve and that moment is now. President Obama is still currently on the wrong side of history. He needs to reconsider and lead.

As I've said before, the President can't continue to try to thread the needle here, yet claim leadership on gay issues. That kind of leader doesn't end up in a tie with Dick Cheney.

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