Leading by following

President Obama seems to be moving in the direction of openly supporting same-sex marriage. But when he spoke in New York last week, he stopped short of endorsing it--despite pressure from the audience:

As Obama spoke a handful of people shouted out "marriage!" And Obama said, "I heard you guys." He never directly mentioned gay marriage.

Obama said there were those who shouted at him at events about other causes of the gay community, such as the need for anti-hate crimes legislation and for the repeal of the "don't ask, don't tell" ban on openly gay military service, and both of those have since been achieved.

In response to an earlier comment from the White House, Andrew Sullivan says what we’re all thinking: “I have no actual doubt that Obama supports marriage equality. His public demurrals are pure politics.” Sullivan’s analysis is right, too: if LGBT rights advance significantly during Obama’s presidency,