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(Continued from page 24)
• A black president speaking out for a minority denied the right to marry is undoubtedly a powerful political moment. But a significant cultural milestone? A nation full of people at ease among openly gay co-workers, relatives and sitcom characters may already have passed Barack Obama by.
• It is a truism, but it's worth saying nonetheless: Politics lags behind culture, especially Hollywood's version of it.
• The president himself describes his change of position on gay marriage as several steps behind his 10- and 13-year-old daughters and the college students he frequently encounters -- even young Republicans -- who already see treating gays equally as no big deal.
• And this is the societal backdrop against which he made his pronouncement Wednesday:
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A long, slow contemplation, then a decisive turn, behind Obama's move to endorse gay marriage
• WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama's evolution on gay marriage unfolded at a Darwinian pace, like that of the giant tortoise. For more than a year -- eons in politics -- he danced up to the edge of endorsing it, always stopping short, still "evolving."
• Until very recently, much of the betting was on Obama taking a pass on the touchy issue until after the election. Why pick that fight now?
• On Wednesday, he picked it. Obama gave a heads-up to a spiritual adviser, among others, and staked his position in a TV interview as the first president to declare himself in favor of same-sex marriage rights.
• Obama doesn't have the power to make same-sex marriage legal. But by taking a stand, he closed the loop with gay-rights activists who are important financiers and supporters of his re-election campaign while putting himself on a potentially perilous path with voters in states such as North Carolina. That state backed him in 2008 but voted solidly Tuesday to ban gay marriage in the state constitution. And it hosts the Democratic National Convention in September.
• As told by aides, Obama concluded earlier this year that gay couples should have the legal right to marry and planned to say so before the convention. Speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss internal White House conversations, they said the White House felt compelled to accelerate its plans after Vice President Joe Biden declared his support for gay marriage on a Sunday morning talk show and said (Continued on page 26)
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