David Axelrod: Obama's opposition to gay marriage was political BS

In David Axelrod's new book, Believer: My Forty Years in Politics, he describes President Obama's flip-flopping in his stance on gay marriage.

Axelrod, a former political strategist to Obama, writes that when Obama stated his opposition to same-sex marriage in 2008, he may have been lying for political gain. Obama apparently told Axelrod, "I'm just not very good at bullshitting," after a 2008 campaign event when he spoke against gay marriage.

According to Axelrod, Obama supported same-sex marriage during his first presidential campaign, but Axelrod advised him not to reveal his stance, because "opposition to gay marriage was particularly strong in the black church." Axelrod adds that Obama was uncomfortable with the political "compromise," and he "routinely stumbled over the question when it came up in debates or interviews."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Time notes that when he ran for state senate in 1996, Obama said he wanted to legalize same-sex marriage, but in 2008, he said that "marriage is the union between a man and a woman" in his opinion "as a Christian."

During Obama's second presidential campaign, he announced his support for gay marriage, saying he had "evolved."