Barack Obama lied about his opposition to gay marriage, according to David Axelrod’s new memoir. The revelation is reported by Time magazine’s Zeke Miller as: “Axelrod: Obama Misled Nation When He Opposed Gay Marriage In 2008.” But that headline could just as easily have read: “Obama Misled Nation About His Faith,” since Obama claimed his opposition to gay marriage was based on his religious views.
In 2004, he said: “What I believe, in my faith, is that a man and a woman, when they get married, are performing something before God, and it’s not simply the two persons who are meeting.” He repeated that claim during the 2008 presidential campaign and beyond, citing his understanding of “traditional definitions of marriage.” Those assurances came after Obama had initially backed gay marriage in 1996.
For example, during the Saddleback Forum in August 2008, where Obama and Republican rival Sen. John McCain appeared separately to answer questions from Pastor Rick Warren about their faith and political beliefs, Obama declared: “I believe that marriage is the union between a man and a woman. Now, for me as a Christian–for me–for me as a Christian, it is also a sacred union. God’s in the mix.”
“Obama Misled Nation” is almost a perennial headline–it applies to nearly everything the president does. Yet it is important to be clear about the nature of this particular lie.
Obama did not just pretend to oppose a controversial position. He pretended to hold that view as a matter of his Christian faith.
He lied about his most sincere religious convictions–and much of his senior staff lied along with him.
This post has been updated to add the Saddleback Forum quote.
Senior Editor-at-Large Joel B. Pollak edits Breitbart California and is the author of the new ebook, Wacko Birds: The Fall (and Rise) of the Tea Party, available for Amazon Kindle.
Follow Joel on Twitter: @joelpollak