In a conversation recently, I was told that the traditional conservative family issues were no longer in play in this election cycle. The person giving me uninvited advice was encouraging me to be sure and not bring up anything as old and outdated as life issues, or moral issues, or family issues because the majority of the people in the nation are tired of those issues, I was cautioned.

The major issues facing the country are jobs, the economy, government spending, and the national debt. Those issues are the major kitchen table issues everybody will be interested in, I have been told. To bring up something as out-of-date and off the radar as family values is to show how out of touch and backward thinking the conservatives are is the counsel some political consultants have been giving to the candidates. My response to all this counsel and advice is summed up in one word. Really?

Last week, members of President Obama’s cabinet came out in support of what is known as same-sex-marriage. Vice President Biden in a speech in Atlanta last week, inserted his take on the same-sex-marriage issue by telling how watching a certain sitcom he has come to better understand the issue of same-sex-marriage and how that the issue can be summarized as a generational issue. He means, I am guessing, that the younger people see nothing wrong with the departure from tradition and thousands of years of family values in order to go off on an alternative lifestyle choice. Finally, and without reservation, President Obama in an interview with one of the alphabet networks threw his full support behind the concept of same-sex-marriage. Let the record show they brought up the subject.

Conservatives did not bring up the family issue. They are too busy trying to survive this recession, unemployed or under employed. The state of North Carolina being the latest state to vote to have a constitutional amendment defining marriage as a union between one man and one woman last Tuesday, has sparked interest in the subject anew. No wait, it must have been a plot by the vast right wing conservative conspirators to bring up this subject in order to get our minds off the fact that unemployment is above 8 percent and the recession is continuing to lower property value as the economy continues to slide downward. It had to be those conservatives bringing up same-sex-marriage as a distraction to the real issues. Now that the statements have been made and the issue is fully in view from the current administration’s viewpoint, we can expect they will get back on message and deal with the issues they say are the most important.

All issues are in play as we understand the worldview and positions of the candidates. From where I stand, family values have always been important to our country as we see more than half our states define marriage as a union between one man and one woman.

Follow Ray Newman on Twitter @RayNewmanSr