The late House Speaker Tip OāNeill, D-Mass., was fond of saying that āall politics is local.ā
Letās take that statement a bit further. Sometimes politics can get personal, very personal indeed.
Just ask U.S. Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio.
Portman used to oppose same-sex marriage. Now he favors it. Why? Portmanās son has disclosed he is gay. That changes everything, according to the senator, who cannot deny his son the right to marry who he loves simply because he loves someone of the same gender.
Portman isnāt the first politician to confront this most sensitive issue. Former Vice President Dick Cheney, described by many liberals as the āprince of darknessā because of his staunch conservatism on so many matters, including some critical social issues, shares Sen. Portmanās dilemma. Cheney has a gay daughter. The former VP has declared that āequality for allā means precisely that and he cannot tell his daughter ā who is rearing a child with her partner ā who she can love.
Another conservative former vice president, Dan Quayle, once was asked how he would react if his unmarried daughter became pregnant and decided to have an abortion. Quayle, a staunch pro-life politician, said he would support whatever decision his daughter made. That statement, at that very moment, turned him into a pro-choice politician ā¦ even though I believe he still considers himself to be pro-life.
These matters, despite how we feel about them as they apply to perfect strangers, take on entirely new meaning when they involve those who are closest to us.
Thus, politics often is more than just ālocal.ā