Obama living on the wedge between same-sex marriage and black votes

No wonder President Obama is evolving slowly on same-sex marriage, despite grilling from the press and pressure from gay rights activists.  He's stuck between a rock and a hard place.  In this case the rock is his solid black voting base, and the hard place is the issue of same-sex marriage. 


Obama doesn't want to alienate blacks who overwhelmingly oppose segregating genders in marriage.  NBC reports that 70% of voters in Hertford County, North Carolina voted for Obama in 2008 and voted for pro-gender marriage on Tuesday.


But Obama also wants to keep the generous support from gay rights activists coming.  What will Obama say about same-sex marriage when he speaks at the Democratic National Convention which will be held in North Carolina?  How will he handle living on the wedge between blacks and gays?


NBC:

Obama won North Carolina in the 2008 election and his party is holding the Democratic national convention there in September. 

One noteworthy pattern was that some majority black counties which had strongly backed Obama in 2008 just as strongly supported the proposed amendment on Tuesday. 

 For example, Hertford County, with a 60 percent black population, voted for Obama with 70 percent in 2008 and on Tuesday 70 percent of its voters backed the constitutional amendment defining marriage. 

And Halifax County, with a 53 percent black population, voted for Obama with 64 percent in 2008 and backed the amendment with 68 percent of its votes. 

 The amendment says: “Marriage between one man and one woman is the only domestic legal union that shall be valid or recognized in this State.” In effect, it would bar the state from giving legal recognition to civil unions between same-sex couples.