Vice President Biden offered a hearty apology to President Obama on Wednesday, hours before the president was forced to announce his belief that same-sex marriages should be legal.
Sources familiar with the apology confirm to The Hill that Biden apologized a few hours before Obama appeared in a hastily scheduled interview on ABC to announce his shift on the controversial issue.
{mosads}“The president has been the leader on this issue from day one, and the vice president never intended to distract from that,” said Kendra Barkoff. Biden’s press secretary.
The apology, first reported by The New York Times, came days after Biden appeared on NBC’s “Meet the Press” and said he was “absolutely comfortable” with gay marriage. A day later, Education Secretary Arne Duncan said he also supported same-sex marriage.
The statements by the two men prompted a flurry of questions by reporters at the White House, which inevitably led to Obama acknowledging that he too personally supported gay marriage.
White House officials maintain that Obama had been planning to reveal his evolution on the matter as soon as Monday when he is scheduled to tape “The View” on ABC. But they say that Biden’s remarks prompted Obama to reveal his feelings earlier.
In the interview with ABC, Obama acknowledged that Biden had gotten “a little bit over his skis.” But Obama added that the vice president had spoken “out of generosity of spirit.”