Some of my fellow bloggers weren't satisfied by John Edwards' description of his 'journey' towards support of gay equality in the last presidential debate. To them, it sounded like typical Democratic pandering on the issue. And to some extent, it was. But there's more than meets the eye in the way he's addressing the issue, and it's important to notice how well he's setting himself up for an in-office transformation.
Edwards is a supporter of gay rights on a bunch of issues -- civil unions, military service, adoption, and hate crimes legislation, but he has a position that we all know is wrong on gay marriage. Elizabeth disagrees with him on this and supports full-fledged marriage equality. Rather than actually defending the civil unions position, John acknowledged that his position wasn't settled -- that's what the journey metaphor was all about -- and mentioned his unwillingness to impose personal religious beliefs on others.
