March 14, 2007

Hillary dodges 'immorality' issue

Posted by: Chris

Hillary Rodham Clinton's interview today on ABC's "Good Morning America" made headlines because she (belatedly) joined calls for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' resignation. But ABC's Jake Tapper also asked Clinton what she thought of comments by Joint Chiefs chairman Peter Pace in support of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" because of his personal belief that homosexuality is "immoral."

Tapper asked Clinton if she agreed with the general about the morality of homosexual acts and rather than take issue, as John Edwards had in an CNN interview and even Republican Sen. John Warner (Va.) did, Clinton dodged. "Well, I'm going to leave that to others to conclude," she said.

In a report about Clinton's demurral on CNN's "Situation Room," campaign spokesman Philippe Reinns tried to undo the damage, issuing a statement that said the Democratic frontrunner "obviously" disagrees with Pace and that everyone, including the general, "has the right to be wrong, but should not inject their personal beliefs into public policy."

The report also quoted a political analyst who attributed Clinton's unwillingness to stand up for the morality of gay and lesbian Americans to her carefully scripted campaign, which makes it difficult for her to be "spontaneous." Credit Freedom to Marry's Evan Wolfson with calling on Clinton to stand up for her gay and lesbian supporters. "I assume that Senator Clinton ... understands that gay Americans are not immoral, and she ought to say so clearly," he told CNN.

Yes, Clinton opposes "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," a policy backed by her husband when he was unwilling to fight to allow gays to serve openly in the military, as he had promised in his campaign.  And yes, there is something to be said for politicians (and generals) staying out of the debate over the "morality" of homosexuality, since there personal views should be irrelevant to public policy.

At the same time, HRC (the candidate) can hardly expect to believe she'll be our "champion," and be willing (unlike her husband) to actually expend political capital on our behalf, if she won't even say publicly whether she thinks we're immoral for pursuing the same happiness in relationships as straight Americans.  And her demurral is even more galling when you think about the clear "arrangement" she reached in her own marriage that stands far outside the bounds of traditional morality.

We need to hear from Hillary herself. Are we "immoral" or not?

UPDATE: This just in from a reader.  Apparently Barack Obama is dodging as well:

Barack Obama joined Hillary in courting gays and lesbians by calling for the rollback of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" — without wanting to directly refute General Pace's comment that homosexuality is "immoral."

Newsday caught Obama as he was leaving the firefighters convention and asked him three times if he thought homsexuality is immoral.

Answer 1: "I think traditionally the Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman has restricted his public comments to military matters. That's probably a good tradition to follow."

Answer 2: "I think the question here is whether somebody is willing to sacrifice for their country, should they be able to if they're doing all the things that should be done."

Answer 3: Signed autograph, posed for snapshot, jumped athletically into town car.

Why the dance? Maybe it has something to do with not wanting to alienate moderates — or social conservatives, the churchfolk who view homosexuality as a sin.

If you give them the benefit of the doubt, it's for the reason given by Obama and implied by HRC: that personal views about the morality of homosexual acts ought to be irrelevant to public policy. The more skeptical view is that suggested by the reader.

I think these candidates need to understand that, since Pace has injected the issue of our morality into public debate, we need to hear from them that they respect our relationships, even if they are unwilling to go the full distance and back marriage equality. It is not too much to ask.