Moving the discussion of the gay marriage and political response over here.
Obama probably can't come out in support of gay unrestricted marriage*, because in the sense that "Only Nixon could go to China", he's too middle of the road to make such support tenable. My dad points out that Obama was 'raised white' and simply does not have the deep visceral understanding of the Black Church, despite listening to Rev. Wright for 20 years. And Obama is certainly aware that he is vulnerable to attacks of 'not being Black enough' and that this particular issue could really charge up that argument, something the GOP hit squads must surely already be scheming about.
(My folks are also shaking their heads at the way Wright acted at the press conference leading up to Obama officially disowning him, agreeing that he left Obama no choice. But now he is on thin ice with his core constituency).
My mom also takes serious issue with people just calling Obama an African-American, and not saying that he is of mixed race, and therefore every bit as much white as he is black. This resonates with me of course, having mixed-race kids myself.
*and how come no one on my side of this issue has tried to win the lexical battle? The issue should be presented as Unrestricted Marriage, and any time someone on the other side of the argument talks about Gay Marriage or Protection of Marriage, they need to be unceremoniously corrected.