US Features
In appeal to core supporters, Bush turns to \'protecting marriage\'
By Klaus Marre
Jun 5, 2006, 19:00 GMT

Washington - With the situation in Iraq all but stable, high gasoline prices weighing on the minds of US consumers, large federal deficits, a national debate over immigration reform and a crisis brewing over Iran\'s nuclear programme, President George W Bush chose to defend the institution of marriage in his weekly radio address.

The address, and a subsequent televised speech on the same issue Monday, is part of an effort to shore up Bush\'s conservative base ahead of congressional elections in November.

The president\'s approval rating has hovered just above 30 per cent in recent weeks, as the war in Iraq and high gas prices weigh on the minds of Americans.

The majorities that Bush\'s Republican Party enjoys in the US House of Representatives and Senate are expected to shrink in November and it is possible, though not certain, that opposition Democrats will win control of one or both chambers of Congress. This would likely put an end to Bush\'s agenda and make him much less effective in his last two years in office.

To get his core supporters involved, Bush picked gay marriage as an issue to speak out on. The US Senate is currently debating whether to amend the US Constitution to define marriage as the union between a man and a woman.

Few issues scare conservative Republicans more than the thought of \'activist judges\' eroding US morality - for example by allowing gays to marry.

Although the amendment has little chance of getting enough votes to pass, Bush has used the issue to rally the base.

\'Marriage is the most fundamental institution of civilization, and it should not be redefined by activist judges,\' Bush told supporters Monday. He added that traditional marriage is \'the most enduring and important human institution.\'

Senator Harry Reid, the Democratic leader in the Senate, said the debate over a constitutional amendment is meant to \'divide our society, to pit one against another.\'

\'It is this administration\'s way of avoiding the tough, real problems that American citizens are confronted with each and every day,\' Reid said Monday.

But criticism does not just come from the opposition party. In a letter to Bush, the Log Cabin Republicans, a group of homosexual Republicans, condemned the president\'s rhetoric and actions as an effort to \'insert discrimination\' in the US Constitution.

\'Your decision to use the grounds of the White House - America\'s House - to advance discrimination is an insult to millions of fair minded Americans from all walks of life,\' the letter said.

\'Wedge-issue politics may score short-term political points but will end up eroding your ability as president to unite the American people behind winning the war in Iraq, enhancing border security, advancing immigration reform, and controlling spending.\'