For my next trick.... (yawn)

Okay, we all knew he was going to do it. And now he finally has.

Today I call upon the Congress to promptly pass, and to send to the states for ratification, an amendment to our Constitution defining and protecting marriage as a union of man and woman as husband and wife. The amendment should fully protect marriage, while leaving the state legislatures free to make their own choices in defining legal arrangements other than marriage.

I suggested on Sunday that I don't think that Bush is going to make a big issue out of this for a variety of reasons. I think today's announcement was actually in line with the notion.

First, the Republican leadership seems in no hurry to push the matter.

House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, said he appreciated Bush's "moral leadership" on the issue, but expressed caution about moving too quickly toward a constitutional solution, and never directly supported one. "This is so important we're not going to take a knee-jerk reaction to this," Delay said. "We are going to look at our options and we are going to be deliberative about what solutions we may suggest."

And some House Republicans have already indicated they think an amendment is unwise. It's impossible for me to imagine Bush was unaware of this, which means he was urging an action which he knew had little chance of actually occurring.

Further, in his announcement, he endorsed "an" amendment (not "the" amendment that's been introduced) and at that one that leaves "state legislatures free to make their own choices in defining legal arrangements other than marriage," indirectly but I think pointedly leaving the door open to some form of "civil union."

In short, my take on this is that Bush is trying to look like he's doing a lot (to satisfy his right wing) while actually doing very little (to avoid the risk of alienating any moderates, all of who he needs). If I'm right, there won't be a lot of political capital invested in this and on the campaign trail when the issue comes up it'll be "I've made my position clear on this" rather than diving into it.

Of course, as I said before, I could be wrong, I am all too often, and the Democrats should have something ready just in case. But that's how I see it.