Obama's First Sit-Down With Bloggers

This afternoon President Obama had his first sit-down with five progressive bloggers, one of whom was Joe Sudbay (far left) from the LGBT-rights focused AmericaBlog. Sudbay has posted a transcript of his exchanges with the president, in which Obama indicated he'd be personally involved in the DADT lame duck strategy.

But perhaps more interestingly, the president revealed that his position on marriage equality was "evolving" and he hinted that a formal change may be coming.

"As you say, I have been to this point unwilling to sign on to same-sex marriage primarily because of my understandings of the traditional definitions of marriage. But I also think you’re right that attitudes evolve, including mine. And I think that it is an issue that I wrestle with and think about because I have a whole host of friends who are in gay partnerships. I have staff members who are in committed, monogamous relationships, who are raising children, who are wonderful parents. And I care about them deeply. And so while I’m not prepared to reverse myself here, sitting in the Roosevelt Room at 3:30 in the afternoon, I think it’s fair to say that it’s something that I think a lot about."

Cynics will, of course, deride today's meeting as a last-minute stunt to pull the wavering LGBT vote out of the fire. That's probably at least partly true. And the president did express some obvious resentment at LGBT activists for doubting his sincerity. Still, I felt somewhat more encouraged. Hit the link and read Joe Sudbay's entire report.