President Barack Obama Completes His 'Evolution' On Gay Marriage (VIDEO)

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama made history on Wednesday by announcing his support for same-sex marriage, making him the first sitting U.S. president ever to do so.

But his decision may have been less a profile in courage and more a response to intensifying pressure from his own party and what appears to have been a gaffe by his second-in-command.

Let's look back at when Obama's evolution on same-sex marriage began. It was 1996, and he supported gay marriage.

As a little-known candidate for the Illinois State Senate, he filled out and signed a questionnaire indicating, "I favor legalizing same-sex marriages, and would fight efforts to prohibit such marriages."

It was all regression from there.

During his 2008 presidential run, Obama said he opposed gay marriage but supported civil unions. He told MTV in Nov. 2008 that he believed marriage is "between a man and a woman" and that he was "not in favor of gay marriage." But at the same time, he said he opposed Proposition 8, the California ballot measure that would ban same-sex marriage.

In August 2010, a day after a California court found Proposition 8 unconstitutional, Obama's senior advisor David Axelrod reiterated that the president was still opposed to gay marriage and believed it should be an issue for the states to decide.

But that 1996 questionnaire didn't go away.

When White House communications director Dan Pfeiffer was asked about it in June 2011, he said someone else filled it out. White House spokesman Jay Carney later clarified that Pfeiffer was referring to a different questionnaire, but still wouldn't say if Obama had once supported marriage equality.

And then, over the past few years, another metamorphosis started taking place. Obama began using one of two lines when asked directly where he stood on the issue: He was either "evolving," or he flatly said he wasn't "going to make news on that today."

In the meantime, Democrats at all levels of government and political stature began to pass him by in their support of gay marriage. Twenty-two Democratic senators, 10 co-chairs of Obama's reelection campaign, nine state Democratic Party Chairs and more than a dozen House Democrats have already endorsed the idea of including gay marriage in the 2012 Democratic Party platform.

Two of Obama's cabinet secretaries -- Housing Secretary Shaun Donovan and Education Secretary Arne Duncan -- have said that they support same-sex marriage. And the biggest news, of course, was Vice President Joe Biden unexpectedly announcing Sunday that he is "absolutely comfortable" with same-sex couples getting married.

Reporters pounced on Carney this week for another update on Obama's views in the wake of Biden's statement, but the White House spokesman stuck to his line about an evolution being underway: "It is what it was."

Now that Obama's so-called evolution is complete, no more will his paralysis on the issue be the subject of fodder on Comedy Central's "The Daily Show," where Jon Stewart and "White House correspondent" Jon Oliver recently examined where, exactly, Obama's evolution has taken him since the 1996 questionnaire.

The president "absolutely, unequivocally supported it, Jon," Oliver said of Obama's 1996 stance on gay marriage. "Then he evolved."

"Into what?" Stewart asked.

Oliver replied, "A candidate, Jon."

Comments

[nicothebaker]

11:36 AM on 05/10/2012

Did the President's 20+ years in Reverend Wright's church help guide him to make this decision? The notion that this was some long thought out heartfelt decision by the President is silly. This has been a political decision from the get go. I suspect he has supported gay marriage all along. And only did this for political reasons.

[IFany]

11:14 AM on 05/10/2012

Republicans feel that they have a right to discriminate, they believe that whatever the views are that they have a right to deny others what they themselves have, there is something basically wrong with a mind that can rationalize discrimination, bigotry, and hate of people that they have nothing other that them being different. And in that they are different it somehow is an assault on what they believe, and what they believe is the only thing that matters. The rational is a mind boggling act of superiority entitlement complex

[IFany]

10:48 AM on 05/10/2012

The tenacity of hate is a sick condition to have to live with, it weaken your character and your mind, until you find day it's the only thing that matters to you, Your hate will consume your life, learn to love , all unconditionally for whatever and whoever they are, learn to judge people by the content of character, individually, and live and let live

[Fan Tastic]

10:43 AM on 05/10/2012

evolve republicans - evolve...

[okayigive]

10:39 AM on 05/10/2012

Although the Founding Fathers foreseen the necessity to include in the Constitution the Separation of State(government) and Church (religion), the Church constantly want to behave as the State. As a heterosexual African American of great Christian faith, I have great respect for President Obama to have the ability and courage to come to an understanding to separate the two. A President must understand that one of his/her roles is to make sure all people are treated fairly.

I constantly question the faith of many who call themselves Christians, when they find it necessary to restrict the human rights of another based on their religion. Is your relationship with God so weak and impersonal, that you fear you will be influenced by the behavior of another? Jesus walked this earth accepting people for who they are by giving worth and God's Grace to those who society looked down upon; yet seemingly many think they are better than Christ by their words and actions when they fail to accept people for who they are.

[builderman55]

10:13 AM on 05/10/2012

"The arc of the moral Universe is long, but it bends towards justice." ML King. As a former History teacher, there is one irrefutable fact about Human History--the arc has been towards greater acceptance, greater understanding, greater compassion. This is the true tragedy of the current struggle over equality for the LGBT community. The time WILL come when they will simply become accepted members of the human community and the bigotry, narrow mindedness and discrimination will pass away. About that there is no doubt. In my own life I have evolved on the issue from one who was disturbed and unsettled by the thought of homosexuality. Over time, as I engaged with them as individuals, all of that passed away, and I now see them as I see another person--as integral and full members of the human community. What this period shows is exactly what the history of Civil Rights for Blacks showed (I designed and taught a Civil Rights course for 8 years), and that is that there are a thousand wrong reasons to discriminate and only one not to--it is a violation of the dignity and basic natural born rights of other human beings to do so. I see the current GOP as the amygdala Party--grounded in fear of the other, and motivated by the most primitive of human impulses: fear of "the other." and the sad thing is this--while they use the political process to sow discord, fear and hatred, another generation will have to live without

[SpeakupNation]

10:05 AM on 05/10/2012

He explained in the interview last night that he thought at one point that civil unions would be enough.

[El Justiciero]

10:03 AM on 05/10/2012

I have seen a lot of people who were on the fence or had no opinion about the civil rights of gays until the Republicans put it in the spotlight by constantly attacking, condemning, making preposterous statements, and legislating to restrict the rights of gays. They brought it into the limelight and they've pushed a lot of people into supporting gay rights that might not otherwise have done so.

[IFany]

09:54 AM on 05/10/2012

Contrary to the mindless pundits and the rabid right guessumation, I hardly think that this issue in any way hampers the President campaign, I really think that it's a better political move no matter how much the right bemoans the issue, it's really trivia, compared with the real issues that Republicans really are losing big on, but they will grasp any straw that they can, But this issue is hardly a life preserver, The issue as voted on in the state houses is still a reflection of who's controlling those same state houses, and does not reflect what people think, especially when it's Republicans, from all the backlash they are getting, they're not winning any popularity contest in most of this nation, other than those strongholds of the South, where they have manipulated the voting to maintain power, Even there they are an embarrassment to half the population. It's funny how the world turns and yet the Republicans manage to stand still, clinging to old prejudices and hate

[IFany]

09:37 AM on 05/10/2012

I see thinking and arriving at a thought still is not a Republican trait or even an attribute that they aspire too. Must be something to stick to a thought regardless what wisdom may come your way, is that a attribute or a detriment to an enlighten mind, Any man that cannot change for the better is a disservice to himself and to other, any man that changes to please, and often is a hypocrite, As Romney has proven time and time again, If you want to use the term flip flop, look to the master of the game your candidate is a chameleon, not a thinker and no amount of trying to change that is going to work, so continue to spin, it only makes you dizzier with each telling.

[Greenthenewgray]

09:36 AM on 05/10/2012

"how he got here" more like a Steven king novel

[fauxshammity005]

09:25 AM on 05/10/2012

And when the Myth realizes that independents are for same sex marriage the mealy mouth Myth Romney will come out and declare that he too agrees with President Obama...now all he has to do is make everyone believe that those videos of him saying that he's against it is just another liberal media fabrication done to attack his severely conservative bonafides....this man thinks all Americans are as gullible as the average red state republican voter with a Texas type education .

[BBLOND]

09:19 AM on 05/10/2012

I think Romeny has a real chance of beating Obama this November

[Carpetbagger 68]

09:31 AM on 05/10/2012

Don't let the monkeys' wings hit you as they fly out.

[IFany]

09:43 AM on 05/10/2012

Until he opens his mouth, or everyone get collective amnesia, as if it's contagious and spreads like a virus from Republicans. One thing is eternally true about republicans they are one trick ponies, forever thinking that a social issue out weighs everything. Not jobs, or heath care or food , or the catering to the rich, and stabbing the middle class in the back, the means nothing to them, But if a person the deem less than desirable of getting theirs rights is a hot button issue that will save their entire political mess

[BBLOND]

09:16 AM on 05/10/2012

This article should be tittled why he flip flopped.

[El Justiciero]

10:07 AM on 05/10/2012

You know why I don't see it as a flip flip? Because he is taking an UNPOPULAR stance that will certainly lose him votes. It is a very unpolitical decision. I'll be ashamed and embarrassed by my country if this issue alone costs Obama the election but I'll still be proud of him for taking this position.

[chore22]

09:12 AM on 05/10/2012

If Obama is a Christian and believes the Bible to be the word of God, how does he reconcile his religious belief with his support for gay marriage? I'll take my answer off the air.

[Carpetbagger 68]

09:38 AM on 05/10/2012

I saw him eat pork and lobster before too. How does he reconcile THESE abominations to God? And on the National Day of Prayer, I've never ONCE seen him kill a fatted lamb and burnt it in its entirety (save the skin) as an offering to the Lord: how DARE he call himself a Christian, yet not do what God commands?!?!?

[BlueBird55]

09:43 AM on 05/10/2012

I'm a Christian and believe the Bible, yet I also support gay marriage.

Let me explain it.

We live in the United States of America. We live under her Constitution that protects everyone's equal rights. It doesn't exclude ANY group. Therefore, we have to let gays have their rights and stop denying them.

As a Christian I understand that everyone has sinned, that no one is worthy of Heaven. That includes me, you, everyone. The good news is that I will not have to answer for others' sins, and neither will you. We are each responsible for our own lives, and I believe God will judge all of us. The Bible doesn't single out any one sin as being worse than others--except for blasphemy. That is the one unpardonable sin mentioned in the Bible. So your little white lies are as equally sinful in the eyes of God as is homosexuality.

Let people live their lives, please.

Gay marriages won't diminish your life, your marriage, this country.