That may be what is meant by the idea of federal expansion. DOMA would have to be repealed by Congress and Congress would have to pass a law specifically stating that all marriages legal in any state shall be considered legal marriages for federal purposes.

The President cannot order such things. That’s not how our federal and separation of powers system works.

I don’t agree. I live in Chicago and was a t that big Grant Park rally when Obama won–and I think he was sincere when he said there was a lot of issues that he as president could not lead, that those who cared passionately about the issues would have to push the government.

With Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, his administration lad a lot of the groundwork but ultimately waited for the Log Cabin Republicans and OutServe to force the government’s hand on the issue. They laid some of the track and jumped on the train once it had picked up speed, but he and his administration never led the charge.

If same-sex marriage does expand federally under his second term, it will have to happen the same way. The difference is that he would likely hop on that train once it was moving while Romney has signed a pledge to do what he can to stop it. But he and this administration are never going to lead on this issue.

When then-Governor Bill Clinton was running for President in 1992, someone asked if he had ever smoked pot. His answer came to crystalize his much-discussed “triangularization” of contentious issues — he tried it once, but he didn’t inhale.

That sounds similar to a conversation I’d expect to occur at an Exodus conference:
Q: “Have you ever indulged in homosexual behavior?”
A: “I tried it once, but I (or he) pulled out before . . .”

I believe he is waiting to get re-elected and when he does, then he will be in a position of endorsing marriage equality. In doing that, he will be the first president to do so while in office and he will have the added stregth that there is no election to loose. If he comes out and say it now, the republican party will have a field day and we will have a repeat of the 2008 ellections.

I agree that every times he says he is “evolving’ there is a perceived wink and a smile. The fact is that for as long as he keeps saying it, the republicans and the christian talibanists who have hijacked the party do not have a sounbite to use against him to try to create a wedge issue.

I am willing to play the game, for a little longer.

I think they are both signaling an willingness within the administration to bring the debate on marriage equality more to the table in the Democratic Party.

I also think they are testing the waters for a pro-marriage equality item in the Democratic platform.

I think this is exactly what the political role of the VP and Cabinet secretaries is: to allow the President to signal and test.