Breaking: Obama supports gay marriage

You know, it's sort of funny.

Previously, lot's of folks were applauding the President for taking a smart political position. (While I'm replying to you, I don't mean to suggest this was your opinion.

Now that he's come out in support of gay marriage, it just seems like a no brainer:

 

Than equality?

 

Doesn't hurt him much in Colorado, either. Colorado has two types of voters, essentially: Crunchy granola types and Focus on the Family types. I can't see this changing the equation much at all.

 

YF -- the only number I have seen in support of that is an interesting one, but it's only a small data point.

PPP's last poll showed that 41 percent of people believed he already supported gay marriage.

It's possible numbers-wise, they assume any downside is already baked in.

 

True, but Focus on the Family will see this as a reason to go after him. I'm not saying he will lose Colorado, but it could hurt him there. Colorado was one of those states where it was a pretty big deal that it went for Obama in 2008.

 

He's decided that taking a stance is worth the possible backlash. I respect that.

 

This was not a move made strictly with November in mind, in my opinion. This was a move made with the history books in mind. This is the direction the tide is going in this country and the president wants to make this part of his legacy. I applaud him for it.

That doesn't mean there won't be some effects in the near term, of course. If it succeeds in drawing Romney and his surrogates offsides and getting off-message, it will pay off very well.

It'll certainly energize the president's far-left base, which was feeling neglected after four years. And his opponents run the risk of being highlighted as bigots. That's why rather than using anti-gay rhetoric, they'll use the flip-flop angle. Which I don't know how successful it'll be.

P.S. Cannabis, you're next.

 

How can Obama come out for gay marriage and still keep the convention in North Carolina? Shouldn't he morally call for a boycott of the event to protest Amendment 1? When Arizona passed an immigration law he opposed - he had the Justice Department sue to try to prevent the law from coming into effect. Should we expect him to sue North Carolina? Will that be part of today's announcement?

 

Interesting data point: A poll done by PPP found that a majority of respondents opposed to gay marriage already thought Obama was in favor of it. Why not have the game if you've got the name?

 

FWIW, the convention is in one of the seven counties that voted its support of gay marriage.

 

As an aside - by making this "announcement" an ABC exclusive does Obama risk alienating NBC and CBS? What shows will be opposite LeBron's Obama's decision?