Sykes to Roast Obama at Press Dinner

Charles Krauthammer: If it's a civil right, how can he let states deny it?

(NEWSER) - Charles Krauthammer sees a "howling contradiction" in President Obama's new position on gay marriage. It's one thing to have "empathy" for the cause, he writes in the Washington Post , to feel badly for gay friends and acquaintances who can't legally marry. It's quite another to call it the next logical step in the civil rights battle, as the president did. If gay marriage is, in fact, a civil right, how can Obama abide any state denying it? More»

67% say announcement was made for political reasons

(NEWSER) - Most voters are OK with President Obama's stand on gay marriage but they're pretty skeptical about the reason for the "evolution," the latest New York Times / CBS poll finds. Some 67%—including a majority of independents and almost half of Democrats—believe Obama made the announcement "mostly for political reasons," while only 24% believe he came out in favor of gay marriage "mostly because he thinks it is right." Echoing an earlier Gallup poll , the new poll found that some 60% of voters say the announcement won't affect how they vote. More»

White House: VP said he didn't mean to overstep boundaries

(NEWSER) - Skeptics may think Joe Biden's public comments on gay marriage were carefully orchestrated, but the White House insists it was just Joe being Joe. In fact, Biden apologized to the president the first time the two spoke afterward, reports the New York Times and Washington Post . (Both cite anonymous administration officials.) The apology came yesterday morning, hours before Obama offered his own public support for same-sex marriage. More»

His gay-marriage comments 'sped up history': Steve Kornacki

(NEWSER) - Liberals are celebrating a hero in the White House, and his name is ... Joe Biden. The vice president's comments on Sunday in support of gay marriage clearly "sped up history," writes Steve Kornacki at Salon , and gave President Obama "no choice but to say what he’s been scared to say since taking the national stage." It's a role reversal of sorts for the pair. More»

Andrew Sullivan: President 'let go of fear'

(NEWSER) - Early reaction to President Obama's backing of gay marriage ranges from joyous raves to complaints about a political ploy. Samples:

• Andrew Sullivan, Daily Beast : "I think of all the gay kids out there who now know they have their president on their side," he writes. Obama today "let go of fear. He is clearly prepared to let the political chips fall as they may. That's why we elected him. That's the change we believed in."
• Steve Clemons, Atlantic : He "shattered any doubt about the administration's commitment to achieving fully equal civil rights" for the gay community, and that's a "brave" move. "To the cynics on the political right who think that Obama loses in a head-on culture war, he is saying, 'Bring it On'—not only because he thinks that supporting gay marriage is the right thing to do, but because it may now be very smart politics."
• Dan Savage, the Stranger : It's "welcome" news for gay rights, but ... Obama is personally in favor but still thinks it's OK for states to make their own rules? "Once the dust settles ... everyone is going to be upset, supporters of marriage equality and opponents alike."