Obama backs repeal of Defense of Marriage Act

An advocate of the law against same-sex marriage calls the president's endorsement of Sen. Dianne Feinstein's bill to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act 'political theatrics.'

President Obama has endorsed a new bill by Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California to repeal the federal Defense of Marriage Act, another step in what the president has termed his "evolving" views on same-sex marriage.

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Opponents of same-sex marriage said they were disappointed, but not surprised. The Defense of Marriage Act, passed by Congress in 1996 and signed into law by President Clinton, defines marriage as a legal union between one man and one woman, denies federal benefits to same-sex married couples and allows states to refuse to recognize same-sex marriages granted in other states."There is zero chance that Congress is going to repeal [the law] anytime soon, so this is primarily political theatrics on President Obama's part," said Maggie Gallagher, chairwoman of the National Organization for Marriage, an advocacy group that opposes gay marriage.
The announcement is one of the president's bolder moves regarding gay marriage. In the past, he has voiced support for civil unions for gay couples, but stopped short of supporting same-sex marriage.
Last year, Obama supported the repeal of the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy. Earlier this year, the administration announced it would no longer defend the Defense of Marriage Act in court, though the administration said it would continue to enforce the law unless it was repealed. But Obama subsequently supported the use of discretion by immigration officials in cases of married same-sex couples in which one spouse is undocumented.
Advocates of the repeal were elated at the news.
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"It is rare that a White House endorses a bill that has yet to pass first in either the Senate or the House," Rick Jacobs, chairman of the gay rights advocacy group Courage Campaign, said in a statement. "His support makes clear to all Americans that the Defense of Marriage Act has no place in our society."
Despite Obama's support, the bill faces long odds. With 27 co-sponsors, Feinstein has just fewer than half the votes for a filibuster-proof majority. And in the Republican-controlled House, Speaker John A. Boehner has taken on the responsibility of defending the act in court since the administration bowed out.
Feinstein plans to make the case that the law should be repealed because the issue should be left up to the states.
"Family law has traditionally been the preserve of state law. The single exception is the Defense of Marriage Act," she said, speaking to reporters before Obama's announcement.
"This is not a cause which we are going to drop," Feinstein said. "We are not faint hearts about this."
Supporters of the Defense of Marriage Act disagreed with her argument.
"The federal government doesn't get to tell the states what their laws will be," Gallagher said. "And the states don't get to decide for Congress what Congress' laws should be."

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Indonesia backs Christine Lagarde for IMF job

Emerging economy Indonesia threw its backing on Sunday behind France's Christine Lagarde to become head of the International Monetary Fund. 

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A late challenge from Israel's Stanley Fischer, announced on Saturday, faltered as fast as it emerged.

Indonesia was previously non-committal on the race for the top IMF job as Southeast Asian and other emerging market nations discussed the possibility of putting forward a candidate from their region.

Lagarde, already backed by the European Union and a handful of smaller countries, gained a personal message of approval from her opposite number in Jakarta, Finance Minister Agus Martowardojo.

Several large emerging economies have been critical of the longstanding tradition of the IMF being led by Europeans.

The French finance minister, who is on a world tour to drum up support, said during a Sunday stop in Cairo she had got "very affirmative" support there, suggesting new fans now included two of the world's most populous Muslim countries.

The United Arab Emirates declared its support for her on Sunday.

The top position at the world's main rescue-lending agency became vacant after Frenchman Dominique Strauss-Kahn resigned following his arrest by police on May 14. He has been charged with the attempted rape of a New York hotel maid, which he denies.

On Saturday Bank of Israel boss Stanley Fischer, once second-in-command at the IMF, said he was joining the race. Until then her only real challenger had been Mexican central bank chief Augustin Carstens, whose bid has been seen to be trailing badly.

Fischer's surprise move looked something of a long shot. At 67 he is two years past the maximum set for applicants.

Israeli Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz admitted on army radio hours that Fischer's "chances are not great", because of politics as well as his age.

"Were it purely professional one would be hard pressed to find a better person than Fischer," Steinitz added.

Fischer was born in Zambia but holds both Israeli and US citizenship. The former could pose a problem for Arab countries and the latter because the IMF job normally goes to a European on the grounds that a US national already gets to fill another post, the top job at the World Bank.

Fischer's IMF record may additionally be questioned in Asia, where he remains associated with harsh IMF-backed free-market policies the region was forced to adopt in the late 1990s in return for aid to counter a financial crisis.

MORE PROGRESS FOR LAGARDE

"Personally I support France," Indonesian Finance Minister Agus Martowardojo said.

"She is a very professional person. She is smart in interacting between institutions, and has high integrity and skills," the minister said in comments during an economic forum in the Indonesian capital.

Lagarde's latest campaign stops included Saudi Arabia on Saturday.

Mexico's Carstens visited New Delhi on Friday but appeared to fail to secure backing.

India and the other biggest emerging market economies China, Brazil, South Africa and Russia have called for an end to Europe's grip on the top IMF job but they have failed to put up a candidate of their own or explicitly back Carstens.

"There is not the capacity to build consensus among the emerging market nations behind one candidate, irrespective of who that person is, and besides that the Europeans feel very strongly," said Ian Bremmer, president of political risk consultancy Eurasia Group.

"I think it's virtually impossible to unseat Lagarde at this point."

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Greek PM rebuffs austerity opponents, vows June vote

Protesters shout slogans and lift a Greek flag during a rally against austerity economic measures and corruption in Athens' Constitution square, June 9, 2011.

Credit: Reuters/Pascal Rossignol

The Greek government defended its new austerity package from attacks in parliament on Friday, saying it was the only way to stave off bankruptcy, and made a new call for opposition parties to back the plan. Prime Minister George Papandreou's plan almost doubles the belt-tightening measures for 2011 already agreed with the International Monetary Fund and the European Union, after the lenders judged that Athens had missed goals outlined under its bailout.
The ruling Socialist party has 156 deputies in the 300-seat house but growing numbers of its members are expressing unease at proposals including cutting spending and raising taxes to reduce the deficit by 6.5 billion euros more this year than first planned.
Papandreou is anxious to pass the plan for more austerity through 2015 despite strikes, mass street protests and dissident voices within his own ruling Socialist party.
"The medicine is not pleasant and the treatment requires devotion and commitment," he told parliament.
"No prime minister of any country wants to go out with a beggar's tray and collect money from other countries ... I certainly don't, but I do it for Greece."
Papandreou is fighting to get not only opposition parties but also his reluctant PASOK party behind the strategy, a condition for receiving more aid from international lenders who threw Greece a 110 billion euro ($160 billion) emergency funding lifeline last year.

PROTESTS AT PARLIAMENT

According to a weekly schedule released by parliament, lawmakers will start debating the midterm plan in the chamber's economic affairs committee on Wednesday.
That will coincide with a nationwide strike by labor unions expected to draw tens of thousands of demonstrators to Syntagma square, parliament's front stoop and the site of two weeks of nightly grassroots protests.
The square is also the convergence point of daily marches by staff in firms earmarked for privatization who oppose the government's pledge to raise 50 billion euros in the selloff of state-owned companies by 2015.
In a televised address to the nation, Papandreou invited proposals for the plan from opposition parties and called for cooperation to improve Athens' position in talks with Brussels ahead of a June 23-24 EU summit.
"I call on the leadership of all parties to cooperate," he said in a televised announcement. "There are many and important points where we converge. With a national consensus, we can negotiate jointly with our partners."
In a move aimed at reducing resistance by the main opposition New Democracy party to the measures, Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou said the government was considering submitting a new tax bill in September cutting VAT and corporate taxes and said he hoped parliament would approve the mid-term plan by the end of June.
The IMF and EU have demanded wider political consensus in Greece before they give the debt-ridden euro zone member more cash. But the main opposition groups have vowed to vote against the new measures, saying they are choking economic growth.
"The mid-term plan is unreliable, unjust and ineffective. It is a de facto confession of the failure of the bailout," New Democracy party spokesman Yannis Michelakis said in a statement.
European officials are still trying to work out a plan which hits private investors for some of the cost of the new funding plan, expected to be worth around an additional 120 billion euros including 30 billion from sales of Greek state assets.
Figures on Thursday showed the economy is in worse shape than initially feared, with gross domestic product tumbling 5.5 percent year-on-year in the first quarter.

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