as others have noted, the FMA is dead on arrival. it simply does not have the support of 2/3 of the senate, the first step to passage (see this count which, as of this writing (it's a running tally), shows 44 senators who are on record against the measure). it only takes 34 senators to defeat an amendment, so the measure already has no hope of passage.
although i am sure the president's political advisors have done the same head-count, i doubt that they will stop talking about the amendment, simply because they believe that it's a winner issue for them politically. but the democrat nominee (kerry, in all likelihood) can easily turn this around.
here's my suggestion: whenever the issue comes up, the dem. should just point out that (1) 44 senators are already on record against the amendment, (2) bush knows that it cannot pass, and that (3) because bush continues to push the proposal only shows that he is using the issue of marriage as a cynical political ploy.
whenever i talk to bush supporters, they seem strangly convinced that the guy, for whatever his faults, at least does not "play politics." when i first heard bush supporters making such claims, i was really stunned. was i was hearing was so different from my perceptions of the president. but the more i talk to people on the other side, the more it's becoming clear to me that while many are unhappy with one or more of bush's policy, they at least see him as being a straight-up type of guy with the american people. the marriage amendment is an opportunity to unmask the proposal for what it is, not a serious policy initiative (for bush does not seem to be doing anything to try to win over the 44 senators who are against it) but rather a cynical wedge issue. it's time to start calling bush on these things.
