Over the weekend, Vice-President Joe Biden made news by declaring his support of gay marriage. President Obama is supposedly opposed to it, but says his position on the issue is “evolving.”
Denny Burk nails it:
It is very unlikely that Vice President Biden’s remarks were unplanned. President Obama is trying to win reelection. To do that he needs the support of his base, including homosexual activists who have contributed heavily to his campaign. He also needs not to alienate swing voters in places like Ohio and Florida, many of whom oppose same sex marriage. In other words, if he wants to be reelected, he has to appear to support gay marriage to one group of voters while pretending to oppose it to another group of voters. The way he’s executing this strategy is by claiming that he’s “evolving” on the issue while sending out his Vice President to speak in favor of it.
Read the rest of Burk’s analysis.
Update: Jonah Goldberg offers a different perspective.