During the Saddleback interviews, Obama said that he did not believe that we need a conditional amendment to protect marriage in the US.
His theory is that marriage has always been a state rights issue from the constitution and there is no need to change it.
Using that philosophy, then Obama would have been against the constitutional amendments which freed the slaves.
Lets face it, up until 1865, slavery was always a states right issue.
Senator McCain is against such an amendment, also.
"As with most issues vital to the preservation and health of civil society, the basic responsibility for preserving and strengthening the family should reside at the level of government closest to the people. In their wisdom, the Founding Fathers reserved for the States the authority and responsibility to protect and strengthen the vital institutions of our civil society. They did so to ensure that the voices of America's families could not be ignored by an indifferent national government or suffocated through filibusters and clever legislative maneuvering in Congress."
The rest of McCain's statement was "until a federal court orders a State (or commonwealth)
to accept such a 'marriage' from another State" (or Commonwealth) or words to that effect