Sen. Al Franken and the White House both issued statements on Monday regarding a proposed anti–gay marriage amendment to the Minnesota Constitution. Obama’s message was lukewarm; he said leaving the issue to the states was the best idea, while Franken said the amendment would write discrimination into the Minnesota Constitution.

In a statement to the Washington Blade, the White House said, “The President has long opposed divisive and discriminatory efforts to deny rights and benefits to same sex couples or to take such rights away. While he believes this is an issue best addressed by the states, he also believes that committed gay couples should have the same rights and responsibilities afforded to any married couple in this country.”

Franken said, “Every Minnesotan deserves dignity and equal treatment under the law, and our state’s same-sex couples should have the same right to marry as anyone else — period. This amendment would do nothing more than write discrimination into our state’s constitution and add to the barriers same-sex couples already face to the full recognition of their families. I’m hopeful that common sense and compassion will prevail and that this amendment will be defeated.”

The amendment passed the Minnesota House on Saturday night and will be on the ballot in 2012.

In a Friday afternoon interview with Fox News, Rep. Michele Bachmann took on the White House for siding with tens of thousands Wisconsinites who are protesting a proposed repeal of bargaining rights for the state’s public employees. Bachmann called President Obama’s support “shocking” and said the protests remind her of those in Greece last year. She also said teachers who called in sick to protest are doing it “so they can make more money.”

On Thursday, Obama addressed the ongoing protests in the Badger State:

“Some of what I’ve heard coming out of Wisconsin, where you’re just making it harder for public employees to collectively bargain generally seems like more of an assault on unions. And I think it’s very important for us to understand that public employees, they’re our neighbors, they’re our friends. These are folks who are teachers and they’re firefighters and they’re social workers and they’re police officers.

“They make a lot of sacrifices and make a big contribution. And I think it’s important not to vilify them or to suggest that somehow all these budget problems are due to public employees.”

Talking Points Memo provides this transcript of Bachmann’s Fox appearance:

“They have the support of the White House. But I don’t believe that they have the support of the people of Wisconsin. Again, remember what we’re talking about. These are public servants — they serve the people of Wisconsin.

In Greece, for instance, in the streets, what we saw were beneficiaries of government checks, who took to the streets because the retirement age was going to be raised from 61 to 63. In this instance, Eric Bolling was on earlier showing that this is simply, a contribution is being asked on the part of public servants, to pay for part of their health insurance. Not even the full part that their private sector counterparts pay for, and part of their pension. This is something that happens everyday in the private sector.”

So now we are at the tipping point. This debate needed to come, it’s good that it came. What’s shocking is that the White House is weighing in, taking sides, and bringing in a campaign apparatus to set this up.

If we look back to what President Reagan did, President Reagan fired the air traffic controllers. We’re now on day three of Wisconsin teachers leaving their post, and leaving the children that they are tasked to serve, and not teaching them, so that they can go out and protest, so they can make more money.

This is beyond conscionable, and I’m urging Governor Walker and the legislators to hang tough, because I believe the people are with the governor and with the legislature.”

Here’s the video:

It’s a red-tape-cutting position that seems better suited to R.T. than other possible Obama jobs floated recently for the mayor, who has striven to streamline city government through a 311 service, among other things, and whose support for Obama’s presidential run slightly predated the Big Bang.

Transcript excerpts and more after the jump.

Rybak appeared on MPR’s “Midmorning” program, along with Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin, and was soon gushing over the idea of a White House office of urban policy, which he said was partly his:

I worked with them on helping to develop this. … Here’s what they’re doing, and I think it’s incredibly smart — is to recognize that when you try to move something out of Washington and get a result, for those of us who are paying taxes, you need to figure out a way to take all the arms of the government and bring them together. … I have to do multiple stops within the federal bureaucracy. I’ve been at this for a number of years and I’m only now just beginning to get it. Wouldn’t it be great, and won’t it be great, to be able to pick up the phone and have that one person in the White House who can say to people who are trying to solve these issues at the local level. I’m going to pull all these elements together. … Different departments, this person’s the point person.

At the end of the mayors’ segment, host Kerri Miller tried to connect the dots between her guests and the urban policy czar job. Franklin was fairly convincing in denying interest in it, at least until after her current term expires in 13 months. Then Franklin hung up the phone, and attention turned back to Rybak.

MPR: So you were one of the earliest backers of Barack Obama among the cities’ mayors. Are you interested in the job?

RT: Right now I have a great new job. It’s called being a mayor in Barack Obama’s America. And I can’t even believe how excited I am to be able to talk about this work right now. I’m going to be focused on that for a while.

MPR: I don’t think that’s answering the question. Are you interested? I mean, if they called –

RT: I’ve gotta tell you that anybody who asks anything yes-or-no about the Obama administration right now, they’ve put a massive gag order on anybody, whether you’re up or not, is to just stay out of that kind of conversation. I don’t want to get involved in that because I’ve got my hands full.

MPR: So if they called, you’d take the call …

RT: These are things that we’ll deal with way down the line if they ever happen, but I’m working in Minneapolis …

MPR: Maybe you’d rather be governor instead?

RT: I’ve told people that I have to make a decision in this next year about whether to run for mayor or governor and I’ll sometime have to make that. But right now I’ve got the job I wanted all my life, with the president I worked incredibly hard for for three years, and you know, I’m throwing confetti all around — in between pension meetings.