The way I see it, he had absolutely nothing to lose and absolutely everything to gain by making this move.

He's proven himself to be far too liberal to score any conservative or even moderately conservative votes.  However, he's turned off a lot of liberals by trying to make everybody happy on certain issues.  

He just gained the liberal vote from the liberals who had lost faith in him.

May 9, 2012 -- 4:49PM, Cesmom wrote:

The way I see it, he had absolutely nothing to lose and absolutely everything to gain by making this move.

He's proven himself to be far too liberal to score any conservative or even moderately conservative votes.  However, he's turned off a lot of liberals by trying to make everybody happy on certain issues.  

He just gained the liberal vote from the liberals who had lost faith in him.

Yep.  White House internal polls must say he's lost his base.

May 9, 2012 -- 5:14PM, Jasr wrote:

I am not sure I agree he has nothing to lose. Black Evangelical voters will certainly be disturbed by this.

I wish he had come out in favor of a universal civil union instrument, proposed making it confer survivor benefits for Federal entitlements, and left the word "marriage" out of the legal conversation altogether.

That would be the best way to guarantee equal rights for all Americans without giving the religious right fodder for their hatemongering.

I agree the word 'marriage' should be left out of the conversation altogether, but that should apply to heterosexual marriages as well.  In the eyes of the law, we should all have 'civil unions' and leave marriages up to the individual and their church.

Either way, it's nice to see him take a stand on a serious issue instead of being a wish-washy politician about it.

Same sex sex is not illegal, neither should same sex marriage be illegal.

Let the same sex folks marry or else start prosecuting them with a vengeance!

I have a tiny little bitty reservation about “marriage   Family, sexual relations, status of women legitimacy of heirs, etc. have changed from the ancient marriage rituals and traditions. Women are no longer chattel; legitimacy is not a question, DNA/adoption determines parentage; association determines family.  Marriage /civil union confers   civil rights and legal protection,  Civil Union should be the legal state issue and marriage a religious  personal commitment.   I have no interest in same sex sex  or “marriage “.   That is because it not my sexual orientation, but for those people who are  should not  be deprived of civil rights and what they do in the bedroom is none of my concern. Research shows that Same sex couple make good parents, and hav far less child abuse than heterosexual couples and that the children, adopted  or otherwise, are as adjusted and loved as they should be.

 I think Obama and every hetero has at least a little of the same difficulty of understanding   what being gay /lesbian is about.