If her husband felt the same way, he would completely have my vote. The smart, articulate and sensible Elizabeth Edwards has made clear that, unlike her spouse John Edwards, she is fully supportive of gay marraige.
"I don't know why somebody else's marriage has anything to do with me. I'm completely comfortable with gay marriage...If he's pleasant to me on the street, if his children don't throw things in my yard, then I'm happy. It seems to me we're making issues of things that honestly ... don't matter."
Mrs. Edwards made the remarks while speaking to more than 300 people during a breakfast sponsored by the Alice B. Toklas Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender Democratic Club during San Francisco's gay pride weekend.
he reiterated John Edwards' position on the issue: ''John believes that couples in committed long-term relationships should enjoy the same rights, benefits and responsibilities regardless of whether they are straight couples or same-sex couples. He supports civil unions.''
She said of her husband's viewpoint:"John has been pretty clear about it, that he is very conflicted. That's up against his being raised in the 1950s in a rural southern town. I think honestly he's on a road that a lot of people in this country are on. ... They're struggling with this. Most of the gay and lesbian people I know ... have seen their friends and family walking down that same road. It's frustrating, I know, but it's a long distance from where we are now to the pews of a Southern Baptist church. So, John's been as honest as he can about that."
My sense is that Mr. Edwards is probably as cool with gay marraige as Mrs. Edwards but, like all the other Democratic candidates who might feel similarly in private, he does not want to suffer the political fallout if he goes out on that limb...even if he would gain the everlasting support of so many of us.
At any rate, Elizabeth Edwards would be the coolest First Lady we ever had...so far removed from Laura Bush who is pleasant and all, but has been very low-key in that role.