The reiteration of the president's gay marriage plank comes at a time when neither campaign is actually litigating the issue (at least not publicly). But on Friday, the president was pressed on the matter during an interview with MTV. According to ABC News, he "demurred" when pressed as to whether he saw a federal role in advancing gay marriage during his second term.
The full transcript of the MTV interview tells a somewhat different story. While the president did say that to "try to legislate federally in this area is probably the wrong way to go," he also noted his opposition to the Defense of Marriage Act, federal legislation that defines marriage as the legal union of one man and one woman.
"Obviously, the president has also supported a legislative appeal of the Defense of Marriage Act," added the official, who was not authorized to speak publicly on the issue.
The president has also instructed his Justice Department to stop defending DOMA in court, with hopes that the Supreme Court will eventually rule it unconstitutional. Finally, Obama has come out in support for the Respect For Marriage Act, which is a legislative repeal of DOMA. Absent that, there are few legislative or legal vehicles for Obama to push to affirm gay marriage on a federal level.
Whether or not Obama is softening his position on gay marriage legislation in the second term, there is little chance that he risks shaking up the campaign too much at this point. The LGBT community has been largely ecstatic with how he's moved on the issue during his first term in office. And while Republicans freely used gay marriage as a culture war topic in 2004, neither the Romney campaign nor allied GOP groups have returned to that well in 2012.
Below is the full transcript of the president's remarks. In what is, perhaps, a Freudian slip, he mistakes Defense of Marriage Act with the Defense Against Marriage Act.
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