Obama, speaking to HRC, said he opposed anti-gay referenda.

One of my favorite websites is PolitiFact, which provides non-partisan evaluations of claims made by prominent politicians, media figures, using a tool they call the Truth-O-Meter. In recognition that truth is never a black-or-white issue, they rate statements on a scale ranging from True to Pants on Fire, with several grades in between. They also maintain an Obamameter, which evaluates the President on 500 of his campaign promises, and rates them as kept, broken, in progress, and stalled. It’s a great resource for political wonks, and for people who like to keep public figures accountable.

It was one campaign promise, and their evaluation of it that, after contacting the evaluator, and doing some research, inspired me to write up my own evaluation here. I’ve also contacted PolitiFact, and urged them to reconsider their rating.

Campaign Promise #292: Urge states to treat same-sex couples with full equality in their family and adoption laws

Obama made this promise during the campaign in an open letter to the gay community, in which he clearly outlines a more aggressively pro-gay agenda than the one proposed by then-candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton. Specifically, the letter states:

As your President, I will use the bully pulpit to urge states to treat same-sex couples with full equality in their family and adoption laws.

PolitiFact ranked this promise as Stalled, which is as low as you can go without outright breaking a promise:

While he hasn’t backtracked on his support… a review of statements and documents by the White House suggests that it would be an exaggeration to say he has used his bully pulpit to advance the cause.

They give Obama credit for including gay families in his explicit inclusive statements on proclaiming National Family Day in 2009, but note his silence in proclamations for National Adoption Day.

I contacted the author of this entry, Louis Jacobson, to point out that his lack of support is actually much broader than that, and he has consistently passed on opportunities to “use the bully pulpit to urge states to treat same-sex couples with full equality in their family and adoption laws.” Ms. Jacobson (who is nothing if not diligent and fair-minded in her journalism) defended the assessment partly on the grounds that  Obama has only been president for a year, and so may not have had an opportunity to use his bully pulpit. Here, I counter that Obama has had more opportunities than any other US president, and he has consistently ignored them. The pervasiveness of Obama’s silence warrants a rating of Broken Promise on the Obamameter, in my opinion.

First, let me explain the ground rules for my analysis. In general, they are biased in favor of the President. Or, at least, they make one more likely to support a rating of Stalled rather than Broken.

• I chose this promise because it was relatively easy for him to keep. Obama promises words alone, and no actions here. He rightly recognizes that the President has very little influence over state family laws. So making supportive statements is essentially all he could do.
• I only looked at events that occurred since Obama was sworn in (January 14, 2009). So any comments he made during his own campaign doesn’t count, nor in the intervening weeks between his election and inauguration. Which means I’m not holding his silence about Prop 8 against him.
• I ignored gay adoption laws, because a) I’m less knowledgeable on the issue, and b) the issues surrounding it are less prominent in the media. That means Obama had few occasions to get involved in adoption law battles in various states where they’ve occurred.
• I only looked at instances where Obama could advocate to states, like he promised. Therefore, I ignored his mixed messages on the federal Defense of Marriage Act, including his inflammatory defense of the act in court and weak support for a congressional repeal.

So let’s look back at a timeline of 2009. I found 20 major events in which states expanded or restricted family laws to include same-sex couples, or where actions threatened to affect these laws. Then, I looked to see how Obama responded (responses are in bold). Here’s the result:

• April 7. Vermont legalizes same-sex marriage. No response from Obama.
• April 14. Colorado legalizes limited domestic parternships. No response from Obama.
• April 27. Iowa Supreme Court rules that state marriage ban is illegal. No response from Obama.
• May 6. Maine legalizes same-sex marriage. No response from Obama.
• May 18. Washington State creates a domestic partnership registry. No response from Obama.
• May 26. California Supreme Court upholds Prop 8, maintaining marriage ban. No response from Obama.
• May 31. Nevada approves limited domestic partnerships. No response from Obama.
• June 3. New Hampshire legalizes same-sex marriage. No response from Obama.
• June 29. Wisconsin legalizes limited domestic partnerships. No Respone from Obama.
• August 31. Referendum 71 qualifies for ballot in Washington State. The referendum puts a hold on the recently-created DP registry and puts it up to a vote. No response from Obama.
• September 3. Question 1 qualifies for ballot in Maine. The question puts a hold on the recently passed marriage equality bill and puts the right to marriage up to the voters. No response from Obama.
• September 18. Jan Brewer, the GOP governor of Arizona, rescinds benefits for same-sex partners of state workers. Brewer was elected when Obama named then-governor Janet Napolitano to the head of the Department of Homeland Security. No response from Obama.
• October 10. Obama is the keynote speaker at a dinner hosted by the Human Rights Campaign, and expresses opposition to anti-gay referenda. He does not mention the campaigns in Maine or Washington specifically, and he doesn’t say anything to the mainstream media.
• November 3. Maine voters vote against gay marriage. Washington voters uphold domestic partnerships. No response from Obama.
• December 2. New York State senators vote against same-sex marriage. (Note: This is the one marriage defeat where same-sex couples remain an equivalent system of civil unions or domestic partnerships). No response from Obama.
• December 15. Washington DC legalizes same-sex marriage. No response from Obama.
• December 16. Utah Representative Jason Chaffetz declares intention to introduce legislation to rescind marriage rights in DC. No response from Obama.
• December 21. New Mexico State Senator William Sharer files a bill to amend the state constitution to ban same-sex marriage. No response from Obama.

So there you have it: Despite holding office for less than a year, President Obama has had an unprecedented number of opportunities to advocate to states for the fair and equal treatment of same-sex-led families. And apart from a nonspecific statement said in private to a gay lobbying organization, he has not said a single supportive statement. He has never campaigned against an anti-gay law or supported the passage of a pro-gay law proposed in any state since becoming President.

Ms. Jacobson has heard my arguments, and has informed me that her editor will be revisiting this issue in January. I will let you know if there are any changes at PolitiFacts.

But in my view, Obama’s campaign promise to “use the bully pulpit to urge states to treat same-sex couples with full equality in their family and adoption laws” was broken on each of the occasions listed above, and is unlikely to be mended any time soon.

Credits: Wikipedia’s timeline on same-sex marriage was very helpful in my analysis.