Yesterday morning at this time nobody (outside of the White House) had any idea that President Obama was going to make history by declaring in a television interview that he now supports same-sex marriage, an issue that a lot of people (cynically) thought he would get around to only after he was re-elected this fall.
But he did say it, and it has, at least for a couple of days anyway, shaken up the political landscape. But will it be used as a wedge issue like George Bush and Karl Rove used it in 2004? It seems highly doubtful, considering how far the nation has come toward accepting the concept of same-sex marriage, something that was rarely discussed on a national level before the U.S. Supreme Court's 2003 ruling in Lawrence v. Texas that all sodomy laws were unconstitutional. Before the end of that year Massachusetts would declare same-sex marriage legal. Five other states and the District of Columbia have followed suit, but 31 other states (including Florida) have voted to ban such unions.
Our report on the political risks President Obama has undertaken can be read here.
CL's editor, David Warner, weighs in here.
This reporter was part of a group of media types who gathered in St. Petersburg yesterday to discuss the state of media and politics in 2012.
And with Mother's Day approaching, Mitt Romney's Super PAC has a new ad that revives that whole Hilary Rosen controversy from last month.
This article appears in May 10-16, 2012.