
President Barack Obama infamously said he decided to make his big announcement in support of gay marriage yesterday after “evolving” on the issue. White House Press Secretary Jay Carney briefed reporters aboard Air Force One this afternoon as the president flew to Seattle for a brief visit prior to his fundraiser this evening at George Clooney’s house near Los Angeles. During that briefing, Mr. Carney (sort of) explained when the president decided to express support for same sex marriage.
“I don’t have a specific date for you. … This was not a policy debate within the White House or the administration. This was a personal decision about his personal views,” Mr. Carney said.
Mr. Carney went on to admit the president wasn’t planning to announce his support for gay marriage at this time until the uproar over a television interview Vice President Joe Biden gave this weekend in which he said he’s “absolutely comfortable” with same sex marriage.
“I think it’s fair to say that within the last several months he had come to the decision that he talked about yesterday and had concluded that he wanted to convey his views on this to the American people sometime in the next several weeks or months,” Mr. Carney said. “It wasn’t going to be this week, but because of the considerable focus on the issue this week, the President decided it might as well be this week.”