Obama's reticence on gay marriage and gays in the military and his support of the Defense of Marriage Act are not out of fear of gays or fear of real change or lack of courage to engage a controversial issue. There is no reason to believe he has a revulsion against homosexual sex acts or the idea of them. If asked, no doubt he would say that people should be allowed to do what they want with their bodies without penalties (think of his position on unwanted pregnancy and abortion). Rather his position is political practicality. Supporting gay rights would alienate black voters, his core constituency, without which he could not have won the election with his tangential strategy in accumulating electoral college votes and he will not win re-election. Gay rights is not popular in the institutional black community or among black women, who are the moral core of the community. He would also alienate Muslims here in the US and abroad, but I do not think this is a major consideration in his mind.
Update. Read Volokh Conspiracy's reading of Obama's DOJ DOMA brief. Basically, it follows President Bush's DOJ defense to say that there is no discrimination against gays when they are denied the right to a homosexual marriage and also the issue is not a federal constitutional issue.
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