Historic Tidbit: William McKinley, our nation’s 25th President,took an early interest in women’s suffrage, as his wife’s family, prominent in Canton, Ohio, were strong backers of women’s rights. Before becoming President, he had already received two honorary degrees from women’s colleges. When McKinley’s fellow Ohioan, Victoria Woodhull, became the first woman to be nominated for President in 1872 on the “Equal Rights” ticket, McKinley hosted an event for her in Canton. This was 48 years before women gained the right to vote. Perhaps appropriate of the below piece, which focuses on another Ohioan.
By Scott Crass
When Walter Cronkite opined on his CBS News broadcast that the Vietnam War was unwinnable (though contrary to some accounts, he did not use that word), a despondent Lyndon B. Johnson uttered one of the most famous sentences by a President to an advisor. That was, “If I’ve lost Cronkite, I’ve lost middle America.” With Ohio Senator Rob Portman’s embrace of same-sex marriage, some may see a similar parallel for the issue’s opponents.
In explaining his shift, Portman cited his gay son, who had revealed his orientation to his parents two years ago. While many of his Republican colleagues have expressed personal support for Portman, no one has indicated even a consideration of changing his/her own views. Indeed, many conservatives are expressing unhappiness and, in the height of incredulity, have even accused him of selfishness for putting his son ahead of his party (I wouldn’t make something like that up).
Yes, Portman did put his family first, which for many politicians, even being a no-brainer, is not automatic with the territory. But unlike others who have changed their mind, Portman’s may in time actually bring some ramifications.
In recent years, social conservatives have been hanging on to hope of reversing abortion rights, while not letting opposition to same-sex marriage get away. The abortion debate was lost long ago. Public opinion has long been firmly in the hands of abortion rights supporters, albeit questions of restrictions make the margin tighter. Now, the battle for the pro-choice movement is centering on state legislatures. While these capitals can’t outlaw abortion outright, many are flexing their conservative domination and imposing daunting restrictions on the procedure. Still, it’s safe to say conservatives have lost the anti-abortion debate.
For years, momentum has been such that the odds of stopping gay marriage was going, going. It was just a matter of when it was gone. Portman’s comments likely signifies that epiphany. Few knew how or when it would arrive.
Since backers of same-sex marriage began gradually gaining momentum, the issue has moved squarely from being seen as a leftwing priority, to one smack dab in the mainstream. Polls show plurality of voters backing it, with others giving it clear majorities. If one remembers that George W. Bush as recently as 2004 centered much of his campaign on the issue of appointing Judges who will respect traditional marriage, the numbers itself would seem to signify major advancement.
Yet for practical purposes, pre-Portman, support of same-sex marriage had yet to make an entrance across partisan lines. Three of the four New York Republican Senators who backed same-sex marriage in 2011 did not return to office the following year (one retired, the other two were defeated).
Is Portman powerful enough to change that? Not right away. 32 states, including Portman’s own Ohio, have passed bans. But for the first time last November, 4 states voted against doing so. In fact, voters in three (Maine, Maryland, and Washington) have legalized it outright. And many of the states that have passed Constitutional amendments making marriage between a man and a woman were done long ago. California for example, enacted it’s ban in 2008 by a margin of 52-48%. Few doubt that if the measure went before the voters today, it would fail, perhaps resoundingly. But for same-sex backers, the movement has been stratospheric. Two years ago, only 15 New Jersey Senators voted to make same-sex marriage legal. A mere two years later, it was 24, a clear majority (the Governor, Chris Christie, vetoed it).
Indeed, since the Defense of Marriage Act was signed by President Clinton, it has become mainstream. Folks ambivalent about gay rights at that time are now in favor of gay marriage. Portman is now the first Republican Senator to outright support gay marriage (in the House, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen backs it outright while Richard Hanna has signed the brief overturning the Defense of Marriage Act).
It is doubtful that Portman’s conversion by itself will change the mind of many in his party. After all, the prospects of primary challenges in 2014 loom large. But Portman is pretty popular with his colleagues and if he were to ask, he may be able to change a few, though that could probably be counted on one hand. At the very least, I’m guessing more pols of both parties have kids who are gay than is realized.
Despite a loyal voting record (Portman was voting with the majority of Senate Republicans yesterday opposing a stop-gap spending measure that would prevent the government from shutting down), Portman has a pretty pragmatic side. He is well-liked by colleagues, whose mild-mannered personality is anything but in-your-face and overbearing. Despite being George W. Bush’s closest ally in the House, he routinely expressed skepticism about his budget proposals. That did him no harm, however. Shortly after winning a second term, Bush named him U.S. Trade Representative, to be later followed by Director of the Office of Management and Budget.
Nor did his connection to Bush harm him in Ohio. He beat popular Attorney General and then Lieutenant Governor Lee Fisher for the Senate by 18% though he did have the good fortune to be running in 2010. Portman has long been seen as a gifted politician, a boy-wonder of sorts both in practicing the business and in strategizing. He was a counselor for George H.W. Bush, then won a hotly contested Cincinnati Congressional seat vacated by the man for whom he interned, Bill Gradison. After 12 years, Portman left to join the administration.
When he decided to seek the Senate, Democrats were giddy about linking Portman’s role in the Bush budgets to Portman and try they did. But with help from Fisher (whose campaign disappointed many Democrats) and his own adroit political skills, Portman deflected the attacks and rode to a huge victory. With his skills evident and Ohio’s importance on the national front, Portman was on the short-short list for Vice-Presidential candidates and was widely believed to have been the runner-up to Paul Ryan.
On the strategic front, Portman has been tapped by every Presidential and Vice-Presidential candidate since W. Bush to play their opponents during debate rehearsal. Portman’s training sessions has have been described as arduous, but also extraordinarily effective. He has a photo with Dick Cheney in which the Vice-President inscribed, “Rob, you were tougher than my actual opponent.”
During the last debate season, Portman so astutely knew the personalities of the other team that when President Obama opened his remarks in his first debate with anniversary greetings to his wife (Portman apparently predicted Obama’s words to a science, so that when he used the term, “sweetie”, Romney aides reportedly had to contain themselves. The disastrous performance only added to the exhilaration around Portman.
So Portman is clearly a gifted man who will need all of his personal charm and political skills to convince opponents of gay marriage, and perhaps his own future opponents, to give him latitude on this issue. But for the Senator from Ohio, the man whose state boasts of being a leader in aviation and claims space greats Neil Armstrong and John Glenn as their own, Portman’s conversion is one small step for a politician, but one giant leap for indelible movement for same-sex backers.