By Keegan Gibson, Managing Editor
Barack Obama may inadvertently have made Rick Santorum more relevant in the 2012 GOP primary. The President’s decision to cease his administration’s legal defense of the Defense of Marriage Act has brought Santorum’s signature issue to the forefront of conservatives’ attention.
Gay rights groups praised Obama’s decision, hailing it as a step forward for human dignity. Some conservatives, on the other hand, have decried the decision as an affront to family values and questioned its constitutionality.
The timing couldn’t be better for the former Senator, who is perhaps most famous for his bluntly stated and often controversial socially conservative views. He is also no stranger to conflict with gay rights advocates.
As one might expect, Santorum was ready to respond when asked about Obama’s decision today.
“President Obama’s refusal to defend a law that was overwhelmingly supported on both sides of the aisle and signed into law by a president of his own party is an affront to the will of the people,” Santorum said in a statement to PoliticsPA. “This is yet another example of our president’s effort to erode the very traditions that have made our country the greatest nation on earth, and it begs the question what language changed in the constitution since 2008 to reverse his position?”
“When the definition of marriage has been put before the people, they have time and time again – from Maine to California – stood up in defense of the traditional family.”
While candidates like Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Tim Pawlenty and Mitch Daniels have staked out political identities based on the economy and budgets – issues which have dominated public attention – there have been fewer socially conservative GOP voices.
With an issue like DOMA coming to the fore, it gives the social conservatives, like Santorum, Sarah Palin and Mike Huckabee a chance to gain ground. Huckabee has also been out in front on today’s DOMA news today.
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4 Responses
THe end of the repukelican party when gay marriage wins!
Gays will lose homo marriage. If not the repukelicans are finished as a party. The repukes will forever lose the Christian vote.
I wouldn’t say “inadvertently.” I imagine this was a calculated decision to boost the Santorum for President campaign, thus ensuring an easy re-election.
“made Rick Santorum more relevant in the 2012 GOP primary”??? Santorum is more irrelevant than ever because this issue leads directly to his man-on-dog and other ridiculous statements on this issue.
Rick’s statement “..defend a law that was overwhelmingly supported on both sides of the aisle..” leaves out that it’s a nearly two decades old decision from a time when the attitude (and levels of disinformation and ignorance) regarding gays was very different. It was a time when gays were restricted from becoming teachers because conservatives equated gays with pedophiles.