Sen. Rob Portman, a first-termer from Ohio, isn't, of course, just a backbench senator. He has been a leading member of the Republican Party for years-he was in the U.S. House for twelve years before taking over as OMB Director for President George W. Bush, and then subsequently was the U.S. Trade Representative before winning his current Senate seat. Sen. Portman is one of the best debators in the Republican Party-he's been a debate prep partner for every Republican presidential contender this century. He was most certainly on the vice presidential shortlist (in fact, if you'll recall, I predicted him), and it would have been foolhardy not to count him in the mix for the presidential race in 2016.
I say would have been, because one of the most undisputed results of this morning is that Rob Portman will never be on a national GOP ticket for president. I'm not saying that the GOP won't come around on the issue of marriage equality, but they won't come around in swift enough time to let Portman gain the status he once held. Before you say Dick Cheney, who was one of the first and certainly the highest profile Republican to support same-sex marriage, remember that he waited until his political career (the elected part of it, at least) was over before he announced the change in his position. Sen. Portman's career is still ahead of him, but I doubt that in a field of Rubios, Pauls, Bushes, and Ryans clamoring to prove they are the most conservative to win the early primary states that Portman's stance will be ignored. No good deed goes unpunished, or so the adage goes.
Which makes the fact that he chose to come out for gay marriage a little more meaningful, as there is no requirement that politicians accept their loved ones when they announce who they truly are. Newt Gingrich, Michele Bachmann, Josh Mandel, and Alan Keyes are amongst many Republican legislators who have maintained their bigoted beliefs despite having family members they publicly shunned as a result. Rob Portman chose the way that Dick Cheney embraced this news, and chose that he needed to not just support his son privately, but also support him publicly.
There are some on the left today who are saying that this decision was "selfish," but to them I say, "take a look at the big picture." Changes in people's core beliefs take time (just look at, I don't know, our President, who didn't come out for gay marriage until last year, despite being a fairly liberal guy), and while in a perfect world, Rob Portman would have realized that other people's sons and daughters deserve to be treated equally as well, sometimes it takes someone from your own family to finally realize that your beliefs need to change. Rob Portman's voice will be an important one in Congress, too, as there are only two other sitting Republicans, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (FL) and Richard Hanna (NY) (of 279, making up only 1%, compared to 81% of Democratic members of Congress who do). As can be seen by the avalanche of gay marriage proponents who announced their support when President Obama affirmed his, leaders on this issue matter, and a well-respected within-his-party senator like Rob Portman will help to turn that tide. Bashing Republicans about their bigotry may be commonplace sport for we Democrats, but we need this to change; the goal of the gay marriage debate is to not only gain equality for all, but also to get to a point where it's no longer an issue that's discussed, but just a common sense fact.
So to sum up, Rob Portman is late to the party, but we need supporters like him in order to get to the finish line, and I welcome him, and hope that he brings along more Republicans with for the fight.
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