After Barack Obama told ABC News’ Robin Roberts that he was supportive of same-sex marriage, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand–who predicted that the president would come around a year earlier--sent around an email to supporters calling on them to “take this fight all across the country” and asking for a donation.
“Polls show that the public is on our side. President Obama is too. But you can be sure there are some who will attack him for taking this stance,” she wrote. “We must keep up the fight. Marriage equality depends on it.”
And then this morning, Wendy Long, a conservative judicial activist running to take on Ms. Gillibrand in the Republican primary, sent out an email to reporters slamming the incumbent for being inconsistent and for ignoring the nation’s economy.
“President Obama has now established that he’s as big a flip-flopper as Senator Gillibrand, and it is no wonder: they are both desperate to shift the national spotlight away from their terrible record on jobs, our skyrocketing federal debt, taxes and federal spending,” Ms. Long said. “Instead of respecting the right of citizens in every state to make the laws they wish regarding marriage, and instead of focusing on the serious economic problems confronting our state and our nation, Kirsten Gillibrand has chosen to focus on a national campaign pledging to, in her words, ‘take this fight all across the country,’ in an effort to impose her own personal social agenda.”
As a point of clarification, Ms. Gillibrand does talk about taking the fight of LGBT civil rights across the country, but there is no indication in her email that she doesn’t think the issue is best left to the states–which is, it should be said, both the position of Mr. Obama and Ms. Long.
It is also worth noting that Ms. Long is so far the only GOP contender to weigh in on Mr. Obama’s announcement, an indication that the others are calculating that this may not be a political winner for them.
Ms. Gillibrand’s full email is below.
