Good points both. Obama was elected by idealism, which is great for campaigning but lousy for running government. There aren’t wings strong enough to fly over the wall built by real-world pragmatic necessities. That repeated whumping sound from down south is Obama’s bird still slamming head first into an obstacle that wasn’t even on the horizon January 20. (What a lousy metaphor.)

That being said I don’t see him doing much as far as DoMA or DADT unless he feels that the people wouldn’t crucify him. The US is still quite socially conservative, for the most part. If Obama goes too far and socons see him as trying to appease the gay and progressive voters, they’ll nail him to a cross.

Look at what happened in California recently when that state tried to make gay marriage legal. It’s a great example because a huge part of the opposition was black evangelicals – A lot of whom I’m sure voted for Obama in 08. If he wants to alienate a core demographic, bending to the social left is a great way to do it!

That’d be interesting: “New Polls Show: An Overwhelming Number of African American Voters Are Unhappy with First Black President.”

Not to mention the crap he’d unleash in Washington – Most Republicans, Southern Democrats, and Democrats with socially conservative views/constituents – they’d all be turning their backs on the man. Look at how hard it was to get that Healthcare stuff through, and that’s still not over with.

The US president in my opinion may be misguided, but I doubt he wants to commit electoral suicide. He’d be giving up a lot more then he’d be gaining.