The White House backed away from that explanation claiming that Pfeiffer simply wasn't familiar with the situation nor the topic of the questionnaires, although they refused to address the issue at that time.
The White House should have bought themselves a second or two to think of how to spin Obama's "evolving" stances on gay marriages but it seems their new explanation is just as offensive to gay activists as Pfeiffer's attempt at spinning Obama's evolution was.
In 1996, as a candidate for the State Senate in Illinois, Mr. Obama responded to a questionnaire from a gay newspaper. “I favor legalizing same-sex marriages,” Mr. Obama wrote, “and would fight efforts to prohibit such marriages.”
White House officials have said Mr. Obama was really referring to civil unions, which he does support. (On Friday, Mr. Obama’s communications director, Dan Pfieffer, caused a brief kerfuffle by telling a conference of bloggers that Mr. Obama had not filled out the forms himself; the White House later said he was mistaken.)
Supporters of gay marriage are not amused by the latest spin attempt:
It seems the White House has a new explanation for the President's past support for gay marriage. You see, the President got confused. When Obama wrote in a letter to a gay newspaper that he supports same-sex marriage, he actually meant civil unions - because, apparently, "civil unions" sounds a lot like "marriage" if you say it really fast ten times in a row while you're drunk.
They also point out that Obama became "confused" not once, but twice.
He must have also gotten confused in the second questionnaire where he said the exact same thing about supporting gay marriage.
Yes, now Obama doesn't just look like he is flip flopping all around the issue, the new spin makes him appear ignorant and dumb as well.
.