I know a couple black people who thinks obama really don't support gay marriage he was just forced to because his vp endorsed it. I am still voting obama even though I don't support gay marriage.
I can see how Black people can justify voting for Obama by thinking his support of gay marriage is just for PR purposes, to fundraise money, and to appease the liberal activists for GOTV. Obama doesn't really have much power to change federal gay marriage bans, so his statement is largely for PR purposes and media purposes.
Black males strongly oppose gay marriage, and view it as challenging masculine strength and black masculinity. Specifically, Blacks are still a significant minority in many parts of America, and in many ways, the strength of the Black population is predicated on increasing the Black population through reproduction for this generation, and the next generation. Black males also live shorter lives than any other race, so the idea of reproduction to increase black power is a motivating mindset for Black male identity and purpose.
I also think Black turnout will be significantly less for Obama than in 2008, and not just because of gay marriage, but also because of complacency in having elected the first Black president, it is far less exciting to "re-elect" a black president if his economic policies are not working, and there is general malaise across the nation. The gay marriage issue will only further dampen the enthusiasm from Black males who would rather stay home than support gay marriage.
Obama made a campaign calculation, and he realized that enthusiasm for his re-election would be decreased across every race, including Blacks, based on economic struggles. But Obama believes that "supporting gay marriage" will excite the liberal base to GOTV, rather than do nothing and lose re-election without trying to throw everything against the wall.
Afterall, Obama has stated he would rather be a great one-term president who tries big things, than a cautious 2 term president who passes weak moderate laws.
