"Evolution" is a lie

Obama's gay evolution that is.  I always thought that much--that you don't say your views are "evolving" on a topic unless what you really mean is "look, I agree with you, but if I say as much, you and I both know its bad news at the polls.  I'll finish this evolution business when it becomes politically tenable."  It sounded like dog whistle politics back in 2008 (and being one of the dog's for whom the whistle was calibrated, I gave him credit), and now that it's politically safe for a democrat to support gay marriage, low and behold he supports it.

This is good two ways:

1. He supports gay marriage.  Yay!
2. It lends credibility to the general subtle message he tries to send to his liberal supporters, a message that I interpret as "We can have aggressively progressive rhetoric, or I can silently do my absolute best to make a genuinely progressive agenda happen.  I'm going to keep my mouth shut and get us some universal healthcare, end DADT, and enact serious consumer protections in the credit markets."  I like this plan, since I'd much rather have an effective guy who sounds moderate, but gets progressive stuff done, than a wild-eyed radical that says all the things I think, but is totally ineffective in wrangling congress.