Faith, Race, And Gay Rights

Ta-Nehisi is unimpressed by Obama talking about homophobia in black churches:

I've heard it said, many times,...that Obama is actually pro-gay marriage, but that he can't come out all the way. If that's the case, then we must conclude that he is lying about his stance. Moreover, he's invoking his relationship with religion, and his God, in that lie. Perhaps worse, he isn't being fully honest with the very audiences he wants credit for addressing--the very audiences, that by his logic, would most benefit from that honesty.

Follow up here. A. Serwer adds:

[Obama is] popular--and while he's popular throughout the country, he's still on another level when it comes to support from black voters...There's a reason why, despite Obama's silence/dismissiveness to questions about the specific problems black folks are facing, you haven't seen any black civil rights organizations criticize him. Maybe they should. But there's a reason they aren't.

Is marriage equality just another bargaining chip for the administration to advance other elements of its agenda? Maybe, but there's no evidence black people are the reason for that--seriously, we can't even get Obama to answer a direct question about what he's doing to address problems in the black community, let alone dictate to him what he should do when. The downside of being this consistently loyal to the Democratic Party is that they don't have to care what you think--and that was true even before Obama. Politicians are beholden to the people whose support they are seeking, not those whose support they already have.