Obama’s gay marriage endorsement pushed forward by Biden’s comments (VIDEO)

July 31, 2016

By Talia Ralph

Obama’s full interview with ABC News, during which he announced his support of gay marriage, aired Thursday.
ABC News

Obama shook the nation on Wednesday when he became the first sitting president to openly express his support of gay marriage, but said in the full interview that Biden's comments had pushed him to speak out when he did.

"I had already made a decision that we were going to probably take this position before the election and before the convention," Obama said in his interview with ABC News' Robin Roberts, which was broadcast in full on Good Morning America on Thursday. He added, however, that Biden "probably got out a little bit over his skis" with his comments, but did so "out of generosity of spirit."

"Would I have preferred to have done this in my own way, in my own terms, without I think, there being a lot of notice to everybody? Sure," Obama said. "But all's well that ends well."

Biden told NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday that he is "absolutely comfortable" with same-sex marriage.

Obama's comments created a buzz across the country and around the world, causing many to speculate about how his support of same-sex marriage will affect his re-election efforts, the Washington Post reported.

While his statements come at a time when Obama needs "enthusiastic backing and campaign cash" from his supporters, it also outraged critics, and may put him in a precarious position in anti-gay-marriage states like North Carolina, which just passed Amendment One, defining marriage as exclusively between "one man and one woman."

When asked by Roberts if his public statement was part of his re-election strategy, the president replied, "It would be hard to argue that somehow this is something that I'd be doing for political advantage because frankly, the politics, it's not clear how they're going to cut," according to the Associated Press.

Mitt Romney, the presumed Republican presidential candidate, reaffirmed his opposition to same-sex marriage while on the campaign trail in Oklahoma, the AP reported.

"I believe that marriage is between a man and a woman," Romney said, according to the AP.

In his announcement about his stance on gay rights, which has been evolving over the course of his political career, Obama emphasized that it was his personal view, and that he still believes that the definition of marriage should be decided on a state-by-state basis, the AP reported.

“I don’t think it’s a milestone in the actual obtaining of gay rights — it’s a symbolic milestone,” said George C. Edwards III, a specialist in the American presidency at Texas A & M University, according to the Post. “But sometimes, symbolism is what people are looking for in politics.”

Obama's full ABC interview aired on the same day of a fundraiser for his campaign hosted by George Clooney in Los Angeles, where support for same-sex marriage is strong, CNN reported. The event is pulling in an estimated $15 million.