Does Obama Lack the Spine to "Evolve" on Marriage?

I continue to be exasperated with Barack Obama's dodging and weaving on the issue of marriage equality. Is the man at heart a bigot who cannot let go of his personal religious beliefs? Or is he a slick, calculating politician who thinks he can secure LGBT votes and money without delivering on full equality? Frankly, I do not know the answer. But it looks like we will see more claims of Obama being "a fierce advocate" even as he acts anything but fierce - or even an advocate much of the time. Kerry Eleveld looks at the issue over at Equality Matters and urges Obama to stop acting like those who tried to have things both ways back when the battle raged for an end to segregation. The truth is, you cannot have it both ways and history will look unkindly on those who lacked courage and a spine. Here are highlights:
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President Barack Obama ­– a self-declared “fierce advocate” for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans who doesn’t support marriage equality – swoops in to address LGBT Democrats in a city that’s barely slept as Empire State lawmakers weighed whether to reaffirm the promise of Lady Liberty: That freedom does, in fact, mean freedom for everyone, even in marriage.
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The White House was already smelling trouble as it turned the corner into June, the month in which celebrations across the country mark the birth of the modern queer rights movement. Per usual, the president issued a Pride proclamation but, for the very first time since taking his seat in the Oval Office, he included no mention of relationship recognition whatsoever.
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An open door, perhaps, through which Obama could fully evolve into supporting every American’s right to the pursuit of happiness? Or maybe White House officials simply didn’t want to poor salt on a wound for which they have no salve. But one has to wonder, what can President Obama tell a room full of gays who paid $1,250-plus to feel uplifted and inspired by their chief executive if he continues his objection to their full and equal participation in this union?
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He can’t avoid the subject altogether. . . . it will be devilishly difficult even for our pitch-perfect president to effuse enough lofty rhetoric to obscure the elephant in the room.
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Look, everyone knows this is a political calculation. President Obama was for marriage equality as a state senator in 1996 before he was against it as an aspiring presidential candidate in 2004 (the evolution of his positions are traced here). But as he heads into the 2012 election cycle, it’s becoming increasingly difficult for him to have it both ways on same-sex marriage – to carry the magic mantle of hope and change, to appeal to the better angels of our nature, while literally falling behind the trend lines on supporting something as fundamentally American as the expression of our liberty.
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Beyond a shadow of a doubt, all this adds up to one thing: Drama. But more importantly, it’s about people’s lives, who they are to the core of their being, the fact that their heart pounds just as truly as everyone else’s. It’s about a longing for leadership that adds up to something more than a cold political calculation for the next election cycle.
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But if calculate we must, let’s face it, the next election – like every election – will be about the economy, not marriage equality. So why not come full circle and stake your claim on the right side of history, Mr. President?
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What distresses me in all of the political maneuvering and the constant attacks by the Christianists is that somehow we in the LGBT community are always treated as less than human and our relationships are deemed unworthy - even it seems by our president.