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Gibbs Defends DoJ Appeal Of DOMA Case

01/18/11- by Bridgette P. LaVictoire
There are many people who are more than happy to see Robert Gibbs leave the White House, and are waiting for him to get out of there so that someone more competent can take over. Right now, the problem for him is his statements regarding the Defense of Marriage Act. He, once again, defended the government’s rather perplexing decision to defend DOMA in the courts, a defense which has those on the Left and the Right up in arms.

Gibs recently had this exchange:

Washington Blade: Last week, the Justice Department filed a brief with the First Circuit Court of Appeals defending DOMA against two lawsuits. … Is there any consideration by the administration to dropping its defense of DOMA in court and declaring the law unconstitutional?

Robert Gibbs: Well, we can’t declare the law unconstitutional. … Obviously if you look at what was written, the president enumerates in there … our belief on this law as we balance the obligation that we have to represent the federal government; the president believes as you said that this is a law that should not exist and should be repealed but at the same time we have to represent the viewpoint of the federal government.

The Christian Post recently stated in one article:

Alliance Defense Fund Legal Counsel Dale Schowengerdt criticized DOJ’s defense as “deficient.”

“The administration refuses to make the argument that the Congress made [when establishing DOMA],” asserted Schowengerdt.

President Barack Obama has expressed support for civil unions for gay and lesbian couples and recently said that his view on same-sex marriage is “evolving.”

Schowengerdt believes the DOJ is giving a weak defense of DOMA because the president is in favor of its repeal.

As Sam Stein of the Huffington Post noted:

But LGBT groups have long since soured on this line of defense, arguing that President Barack Obama could simply declare the government uninterested in backing DOMA’s constitutionality, allowing it to be struck down.

While Obama appears to support the repeal of DOMA, it is not going to happen in the legislature, and it would be better if Obama was willing to not defend the case and just anger the Christian Right, who will never like him anyway. He has every right to do that, and no matter what he does in this case, he is going to anger one side and the other without getting any real points in the middle.

As for Gibbs, he needs to get the heck out of there and get replaced by someone who is a lot better at speaking in public.