Obama’s stance on gay marriage can basically be broken down like this:
1. If he comes out in favor of gay marriage now, he will lose a lot of votes.
2. If he comes out against gay marriage, he will also lose some votes, though likely not as many.
3. He is trying not to lose a bunch of votes by coming out in favor of gay marriage now, but is also trying to hint at a promise to make progress on this issue in the future (evolve).
4. The GOP has caught on to this, and is pressuring him to take a stance, thereby losing votes and possibly the election.
5. If you are in favor of gay marriage, like myself, you need to back off for now. You’ve waited this long, you need to wait a little longer if you want any hope of victory here. His “struggle” with this is not with the morality, but with the issue of strategy. Don’t make the mistake of concluding this to be cowardice. This is discretion, which as you know, is the better part of valor. Don’t forget who repealed DADT, and who he is up against.