"This Afternoon, Seattle Came Out to Thank President Obama for His Support of Marriage Equality"

Paul Constant (SLOG):

President Obama's fundraiser today at the Paramount was his first public appearance since he announced his personal support for marriage equality in an interview with ABC News yesterday, and a lot of people came to the speech with a lot of expectations. Would President Obama's speech today reflect yesterday's news? Would he campaign on gay marriage as an issue? Expectations were high: The streets surrounding the Paramount resembled a mini-Pride parade, with Seattleites in rainbow clothes pushed up against barricades holding signs expressing their gratitude ("THANKS FOR EVOLVING") for his statement of support. A few people held up a large, elaborate banner depicting President Obama on one side and Martin Luther King, Jr. on the other as standard-bearers of civil rights. Would he restate his support? Would he encourage Washington voters to stand up for marriage equality in the fall? MORE...

Seattle: Local Pols Welcome the POTUS (photo)

(CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE)

Photo: JOSHUA TRUJILLO / SEATTLEPI.COM

Frank Rich on the National Circus: "He’s Evolved!"

Frank Rich (New York Magazine):

And so, Obama has finally finished evolving on same-sex marriage.
And about time! I, for one, never understood the point of saying you were “evolving” when many of the voters you were pandering to don’t even believe in evolution. 
Did Joe Biden push his boss to act by announcing on Meet the Press last Sunday that he was “absolutely comfortable” with gay marriage?
I doubt it. A veep has no such power over any president. Let’s give Obama real credit here. Slow and halting and borderline farcical as his “evolution” was, we have now seen an American president take a historic stand on gay civil rights while in office — and do so despite the opposition of many in the African-American community.

Yet North Carolina banned same-sex marriage and even legal recognition of civil unions yesterday in a landslide, becoming the 31st state to do so. Obama’s stand, however cheering to his base, could hurt him in an election year when he needs to win swing states like North Carolina.
That’s always been the rationale for Obama’s dawdling. Don’t rock the boat in North Carolina — or Florida or Virginia or Colorado — by speaking out on gay marriage until after November 6 has passed. The counter-argument I’d make is that Obama looked like a phony and a coward each day he fudged this issue, and that his taking a strong and principled stand will have a halo effect on his leadership in general, including among voters who are ambivalent about gay marriage or opposed to it. Just look at Andrew Cuomo, whose approval rating remains high upstate and among Republicans, not just among liberals in New York City and its suburbs.

MORE...

"Mitt Romney: Backwards on Equality" (video)

BarackObamadotcom, video (01:40):

President Barack Obama affirms his personal belief that same-sex couples should be allowed to marry, but Romney supports the first constitutional amendment to discriminate and deny rights.

BREAKING: "Prez and the Evolution: President Obama Comes Out For Gay Marriage To Robin Roberts" (with video)

Tommy Christopher (MEDIAite) with video (02:15):

On the heels of Vice President Joe Biden‘s alleged rogue-going on gay marriage, and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan‘s actual expression of support for marriage equality, President Obama has completed his long-awaited “evolution” on gay marriage by expressing support for marriage equality in an interview with ABC News’ Robin Roberts. Although the apparent result of intense media pressure, marriage equality advocates likely don’t care how he got here (railway, Trailways, Caravan?), just that he got here. MORE...

"Make A Ruckus": Robert Reich Hails Occupy For Exposing Concentration of Wealth and Power (video)

Democracy Now! with video (08:37):

In his new book, "Beyond Outrage," former Labor Secretary Robert Reich opens with a dedication to the Occupy Wall Street movement. He writes: "To the Occupiers, and all others committed to taking back our economy and our democracy." We speak to Reich about the success of Occupy in reshaping the national dialogue on the economy and why strong grassroots movements are needed to push elected leaders in Washington to enact a progressive agenda. Reich also discusses why austerity is not the answer to the economic crisis at home, or in Europe."

"288,000" (video)

WashDems, with video (01:05):

Have a job? Have a question for Rob McKenna? Visit our site - http://www.wa-democrats.org/askrob

"CARVILLE TO DEMS: WAKE UP" (video)

Meenal Vamburkar (MEDIAite) with video (04:16)from CNN:

Hey Democrats, what are you smoking? That’s what James Carville wants to know. In a CNN opinion piece, Carville sends a strong message to his fellows Democrats, warning them not to take a November victory for granted. His message: WTFU (or, wake the fuck up). MORE...

"Former Labor Sec. Robert Reich on Clinton’s Errors of Crippling Welfare to Repealing Glass-Steagall" (video)

Democracy Now! with video:

Former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich critiques President Obama’s handling of the economic crisis and the Clinton administration’s repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act, a key deregulatory move that ended the separation of commercial and investment banking and is widely seen as having helped lead to the financial collapse. The Clinton administration also presided over a drastic transformation of U.S. welfare laws, throwing millions off of welfare rolls. "I went outside of the White House, walked back to my office along Constitution Avenue, expecting I would see signs. ... There are a lot of people who were concerned about that issue. But there was nobody on the streets. It was deafening. The silence was deafening," Reich says of the day Clinton signed the change into law. He notes this is when he realized, "if people who are concerned about the increasing concentration of wealth and power in this country are not mobilized, are not visible, then nothing progressive is going to happen."

Howie P.S.: Reich is not just critical of Clinton in this interview.

Dean: Romney's candidacy a "shipwreck" (video)

CBSNews-Face the Nation,with video (04:13):

Former Democratic National Committee Chairman Gov. Howard Dean says it's "ridiculous" for Rep. Michele Bachmann to suggest Mitt Romney can win with women in November.

"Liberals Steer Outside Money to Grass-Roots Organizing"

The financier George Soros is expected to contribute $1 million each to a rights group and a research “super PAC.” 

Nicholas Confessore (NY Times):

After months on the sidelines, major liberal donors including the financier George Soros are preparing to inject up to $100 million into independent groups to aid Democrats’ chances this fall. But instead of going head to head with the conservative “super PACs” and outside groups that have flooded the presidential and Congressional campaigns with negative advertising, the donors are focusing on grass-roots organizing, voter registration and Democratic turnout. MORE...

H/t to Matt Griffin.

Matt Taibbi on the 2012 Presidential Contest

Matt Taibbi:

But this campaign, relatively speaking, will not be fierce or hotly contested. Instead it'll be disappointing, embarrassing, and over very quickly, like a hand job in a Bangkok bathhouse. And everybody knows it. It's just impossible to take Mitt Romney seriously as a presidential candidate. Even the news reporters who are paid to drum up dramatic undertones are having a hard time selling Romney as half of a titanic title bout. MORE...

Photos: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images; JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/GettyImages

"Obama Camp Struggles To Explain President’s Gay Marriage Position (with video)

TPM with video (05:04):

President Obama’s fancy footwork on a gay marriage stance is becoming harder and harder to sell. Even worse for the Obama campaign, it’s opening up space for Republicans — who are much further to the right on matters of gay rights — to attack Obama on his own turf. The fallout from Vice President Joe Biden’s appearance on “Meet the Press” Sunday, where he expressed public support for gay marriage, has made it much tougher for the Obama campaign to keep up its awkward position that the president is moving toward support for gay marriage but still against it officially. On Monday, Obama deputy campaign manager Stephanie Cutter struggled to define the difference during an appearance on MSNBC. MORE...

"Chuck Todd: 'Gay Money Has Replaced Wall St. Money' for Obama" (with video)

David, Crooks&Liars with video (04:45):

NBC's Chief White House Correspondent Chuck Todd on Monday predicted that President Barack Obama would announce his support for marriage equality before the November election because LGBT donors had become more important to his campaign than Wall Street donors.
The MSNBC host said he believes that it's no coincidence that just in the last few days, both Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan have expressed support for same sex marriage.
"They are so sensitive to Biden doing this because, number one, gay money in this election has replaced Wall Street money," Todd explained. "It has been the gay community that has put in money in a way to this President that is a very, very important part of the fundraising operation for President Obama's campaign."
"What I keep being told is [President Barack Obama is] not ever going to announce his change in his position at a press conference. He'll do it a more appropriate venue." MORE...

"Obama fundraiser Thursday in Seattle"

AP:

President Obama returns to Seattle Thursday to raise money for his re-election campaign. Democrats say he’ll appear at a noon luncheon at the Paramount Theater with musical guest Dave Matthews. Obama was last in the Seattle area on Feb. 17 when he visited the Boeing plant at Everett and held private fundraisers in Bellevue and Medina.

"9 Swing States, Critical to Presidential Race, Are Mixed Lot"

President Obama at a rally Saturday at Ohio State University. Photo: Stephen Crowley/The New York Times

 Michael Cooper (New York Times):

Since the housing bubble burst, Nevada has been plagued with record foreclosures, the nation’s steepest drop in home values and its highest unemployment rate. Iowa, on the other hand, may have missed out on some of the boom but was spared the worst of the bust: its housing prices have stayed relatively stable, and it now has the fifth-lowest unemployment rate in the country. Ohio suffered a steeper than average loss of jobs during the recession, but it has since seen its unemployment rate fall below the national average. All three are among the handful of swing states likely to decide who wins the presidential election — states in different stages of a slow economic recovery. MORE...

Campaign 2012: "President Barack Obama's Remarks at the Ready to Go Rally in Columbus, Ohio" (video)

BarackObamadotcom, video (39:05)

This is a turning point for this campaign. Starting today with these rallies, we're entering a new stage -- and we don't intend to slow down until the last voter weighs in on November 6th.

Sam Seder: "Tens of Thousands Occupy May Day, Reuters Calls It a 'Dud'" (video)

 
SamSeder, with video (07:31):

By all accounts, Occupy Wall Street's May 1st May Day Actions, which many have called Occupy's 'resurgence,' was a massive success. Tens of thousands of protesters took part all over the country, from New York to Oakland. However, for one Reuters reporter who left the protests early, it was a 'dud'...

H/t to Darryl.

"Office Hours: Romney's leadership problem" (with video)

MSNBC-Jamil Smith(ED Show), with video (10:19):

In place of Melissa's regular "Office Hours" column this week, we encourage you to check out her appearance tonight on "The Ed Show" with its guest host, Georgetown professor and radio host Michael Eric Dyson. Their topic? Mitt Romney's leadership crisis. After the jump, her appearance on "Politics Nation with Al Sharpton" today discussing Romney's issues with women voters.

"The Argument Is Over. The Campaign Is Here. Let's Go."

Charles P. Pierce (Esquire):

All the smart people in the room have declared this Saturday to be the official, no-kidding, honest-to-god Opening Day of the president's re-election campaign. He will speak in Virginia and in Ohio. (The new jobs report undoubtedly has at least partly harshed the mellow of the day.) Still, the president will tell us that things are looking up, that we should all stay the course, and that electing the Romneybot 2.0 will send us back to the policies that set the country to reeling in the first place. (He likely will not say that it's "Morning In America" again, if only because the president and I have a firm agreement that he will not go out of his way to make me throw up.) There will be some more talk of the killing of Osama bin Laden, surely, and probably no little vainglory about our strategic partnership with the Afghanistan that exists only in the minds of the president and his advisors. He will point out that he inherited a mess, and that's he's done god's own work cleaning it up. He will point out that the job would have been easier had the Republican party in Congress not given itself over to obstructionists and vandals, most of whom have the essential civic conscience of a 12-year old with a can of spray paint. The president will not necessarily be lying about any of this.
He also will be too late. MORE...

Howie P.S.: I'm hoping the author is wrong.