Still Illegal
I admit to being out of my area of expertise here, but, apropos of Andrew Sullivan’s comment, wouldn’t Senator Obama’s parents’ marriage still be illegal in, I think, every state? Because Obama’s father was already married when he married Obama’s mother, right? And bigamy’s still illegal, yes?
That said, I think Sullivan’s small suggestion is a good one. Based on their relative positioning on gay rights questions, McCain needs to be asked whether he supports ending “don’t ask, don’t tell” and Obama needs to be asked whether he supports repealing the Defense of Marriage Act. I’m pretty sure in both cases the private answer is “yes” but each candidate may feel, politically, that they don’t want to say – or do – what they privately believe. (McCain’s on-record in support of “don’t ask, don’t tell” which puts him to the right of, for example, Ramesh Ponnuru. Obama supported repeal of DOMA in his 2004 Senate race, but has not, so far as I know, answered a direct question on the subject in his Presidential campaign, nor promised to seek repeal.) That’s the point at which interest groups can typically press for promises that bind the candidate uncomfortably after the election.
The Obamas’ marriage was illegal everywhere because it was bigamous, yes.
Prior to that, their pre-marital sexual relationship would have been illegal in some states (but not Hawaii, apparently) because she was 17 at the time of Barack Jr.‘s conception and Barack Sr. was 24. (It is possible that the sexual relationship would have been illegal in some states because it was adulterous, too, though I haven’t checked into that.)
But I think what Sullivan is getting at here is that the marriage would have been illegal in some states because it was inter-racial.
— petert · Jun 25, 04:30 PM · #
petert: I know what Sullivan was getting at. I’m tweaking him.
— Noah Millman · Jun 25, 04:42 PM · #
Oh, of course, of course. I just find it interesting that Sullivan focuses on only one of the ways in which the Obamas would have been illegally united, depending on the state. One wonders what Barack Jr. would say if anyone asked him for his opinion regarding the statutory-rape laws, and whether the age of consent should be 14 or 16 or 18, etc. — but I guess that’s a state matter, not a federal matter, and Barack Jr. has moved on to bigger and better things.
— petert · Jun 25, 05:19 PM · #
petert: If only Obama had written some kind of memoir in which he commented at length about his view of his father.
— alkali · Jun 25, 07:55 PM · #