After President Obama announced last week that he now personally supports same sex marriage, a couple of key political questions surfaced.
Will this help or hurt Obama at the polls in key battleground states (like Florida) in November? And how will the Republicans as a party handle an issue that is looked at much differently than when George W. Bush ran for re-election in 2004 when 11 states had the issue of banning same sex marriage on the ballot?
Tennessee Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn telegraphed where the D.C. GOP establishment is when she said in essence, let's not dwell on this issue, but get it back to the economy, the most important issue that Americans care about, and the issue where Barack Obama is most vulnerable.
On ABC's This Week, Blackburn said she wanted to see if the national Democratic Party was going to the issue part of their platform at the Democratic Convention in Charlotte this year, but like many other D.C. Republicans, did not want to get too visceral about it.
BLACKBURN: I think that what you're going to see Mitt Romney do is put the focus on jobs and the economy. And, George, you're talking about this is Mother's Day. We've got nearly 858,000 women that have lost their jobs under this president. And you have women that are concerned about the loss in household income under this president, nearly $4,000 per household. Those are the issues that are first and foremost in front of people, is making certain that jobs and the economy is the focus.
Blackburn's debating partner on ABC, Massachusetts' Congressman Barney Frank, immediately seized upon her comment, saying "This is a good political science lesson for people about what a political party's talking points are. My colleague, Ms. Blackburn, has been instructed to talk about the economics first."
Makes sense, doesn't it?