At President Bush’s press conference last month, when he was asked to single out what he thought was his biggest mistake, I honestly pictured him saying, “Well, there’ve been so many mistakes, I don’t know where to start.” The Center for American Progress goes one better (actually, one hundred better) and lists “100 Mistakes for the President To Choose From” (link via Andy).
Another interesting bit from the Center for American Progress website, this time regarding the federal marriage amendment: “The Speech the President Should Have Given” by Mark David Agrast (Mar. 22, 2004). An excerpt:
I respect the personal convictions of those who support an amendment, and I personally share their discomfort about the prospect of same-sex marriages. I also support the right of religious denominations to define marriage for religious purposes, just as the states define marriage for civil purposes. But that right is not threatened. And as your president, I do not have the luxury of indulging my private feelings. I am the president of all the people, including our gay and lesbian fellow citizens. Laura and I have many friends–including prominent members of my administration–who have children and other family members who are gay or lesbian. They want the best for their children–as do we all. And I cannot find it within myself to say to them that the desire of their children to marry poses a threat to our society that it takes a constitutional amendment to avert.
Ah, if only.