President Obama was Speaking personally to Robin Robins on ABC News. Let's see what the Mormons do with this. It will be used to scare the older people, but I wonder if the young people will support it.

It's all about the independent voters. A majority of independent voters are pro-gay-marriage.

He can now forget about carrying Virginia, Ohio, Wisconsin, Michigan, North Carolina, Iowa and Pennsylvania.

And Florida ...

Here in Virginny we ain't so fired up narrow-minded as all that!

Bring on the culture war. It's another step forward and encouraging to see we are becoming a more enlightened society, imo. TSCC is once again finding itself in the dark ages.

in 2013 neither candidate will have any idea what you are talking about.

Then again, all decisions made by politicians these days are wholly political. Whether he'll actually do anything is anybodys guess. It is a step in the right direction though. His "coming out" and supporting same-sex marriages is a big step.

Well considering that this comes at a time when absolutely nothing will be done about the Federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA, enacted September 21, 1996) before the election, it is about as empty a gesture as he's ever made...

I hear echoes of Bill Clinton.

DADT wasn't popular in Clinton's time, same here.

will ChurchCo fault him for 'Standing For Something'?

Obama strikes me as a man who calculates even move very carefully. This is either a bold move or evidence times are a changing. I'm guessing more of the former than the latter.

Some advice Mitt, I think you may be in an ideological trap. You are looking very flat-footed.

However calculated and shrewd a move this might be, and for whatever political gain, it will go a ways toward normalizing attitudes of justice and equality.

I'm grateful to both POTUS and VPOTUS this week for saying the right things. Now, if they could DELIVER on their ideals a little more bravely (recognizing that ending DADT and instructing the Justice Department not to defend DOMA were admirable steps in the right direction), I'd be over the moon.

I can't wait to see how Romney digs his heels. There's no way he can win this if he's willing to be seen as King Protector and Preserver of the bigots' preferred way of living. Should be interesting.

I think you're right about the ideological trap-- Mitt's in check.

Of course, by the time you read this, the Republican Congressional members are already throwing yet another of their little baby tantrums, like they always do EVERYTIME Prez. Obama does ANYTHING at all!

I think Obama is playing that card now because:

...even though in reality it is a totally meaningless gesture, he hopes the gay voters he has lost will fall for this last-minute hop off the fence and totally forget that he has back-burnered them, their support, and their $$$ for 3.5 years.

...he knows that, even as Romney has struggled to appear far-right, he has struggled to appear far-left, and that he is way too centrist to be a decent contrast against Romney in a hot election.

How much more would it have helped if he had said this 3.5 years ago! He certainly had nothing to lose back then...

I wouldn't call you jaded and cynical. I'd call you a Romney supporter.

Obama totally "back-burnered" gay voters? Totally?

LOL! Let me quote Helamonster: "I hate Mittens with the heat of 1000 suns," pretty much sums up my sentiments. OTOH, I don't fall blindly in thrall for any politico who proffers up hollow backroom lies and bland public denials about how much they revere and support their constituents -- ESPECIALLY when it has to do with the LGBT community.

Bill Clinton pulled the same $#!t and I watched all my LGBT friends with total disgust as they fawned over what a Great Friend of the Community he was. PLEASE! Clinton instituted DODT, which caused more lesbians & gays to be ignominiously drummed out of the service in the years it was in effect than in ALL PREVIOUS U.S. military history! Clinton SIGNED DOMA into law! With friends like Clinton, who needed enemies? And frankly, if you haven't been keeping a score card on Obama (I have, BTW) I can see how you might confuse Obama's Democratic presidency with a presidency that actually concerned itself with the LGBT who helped elect it but you would be sadly mistaken: until this very moment, Obama has literally never said one word more in public suport of his LGBT constituents than Mitt Romney has ever uttered. Whether either of them is actually sincere is not part of the equation, since clearly neither of them is.

Did Romney support gays in the military like Obama? Yes, Obama talked about his support for the bill. Romney?

xyz Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>
>
> Clinton instituted DODT, which
> caused more lesbians & gays to be ignominiously
> drummed out of the service in the years it was in
> effect than in ALL PREVIOUS U.S. military history!
>
Cite this please.

This will get the attention on social issues and off the economy (right where Romney wants and needs it.)

Source, MSNBC--today. Can't remember who said it.

Paragraph 14,
"Before the policy was put into place, gay men and lesbians were barred from serving in the military. When he ran for president in 1992, Bill Clinton pledged to change that, but after he was elected, Mr. Clinton had to compromise on “don’t ask, don’t tell,” under which gay soldiers could serve as long as they did not disclose their sexual orientation."
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/30/us/30military.html?_r=1

Here:
Whole article,
"It was 15 years ago, Tuesday, that President Clinton rolled out the policy that came to be known as "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," which relaxed the long-standing bar against gay men and women serving in the U.S. military. While the move was initially hailed as progress for the rights of gays in the military, today many see it as a liability."
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1707545,00.html

It has been reported that Clinton later regretted signing DADT into law, claiming he was ddeceived by Colin Powell and others. If you believe that I've got a Defense of Marriage Bill that he signed on September 21, 1996 for you. The man's regret apparently knew no bounds.

For a certain departed RFM troll, initials CTK...

Stepped in front of my taxi on an icy street, honest. A lot of the old-timers were witnesses...

Mitt on the other hand, evolves backwards.

This is great news. I know his support is merely symbolic as long as marriage is the remit of the states, but Obama never does anything impulsively. He is now certain it will not cost him votes.

God, that was a terrible time for human rights.

Who releases Doomsday????

That's when you go for impeachment!!!

I thought he was going to wait until after his re-election to support marriage equality.

But YAY, no matter when a politician "comes out" in favor of equal rights.