“The matured Mitt” by Drew Sheneman - © 2012 Tribune Media Services
With a meager crowd of dozens looking on, President Obama spoke about the nation’s still-hurting housing market in front of a Nevada home.
More revealing moments from behind the scenes on the campaign trail at our Campaign Photo Diary
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"The president’s decision to speak his belief, plainly, movingly, even if it is controversial, offers a stark contrast to Mitt’s marathon flip-flopping and glaring insincerity … That should be rewarded, not punished, in November — and I think it will be. Americans are a decent people; sometimes it just takes time."
— Robert Shrum: Obama’s gay-marriage endorsement is a moral and political win
After years of hedging, President Obama has come out in support of same-sex marriage. How will his ‘evolution’ affect gay rights — and the 2012 race?
1. It makes the presidential campaign more polarizing
After Vice President Joe Biden expressed his comfort with same-sex marriage on Sunday, followed by North Carolina’s resounding approval Tuesday of a constitutional amendment banning it, the president no longer had the luxury of continuing his long period of evolution, says Ed Kilgore at Washington Monthly. Across the nation, support for gay marriage is “slowly growing” — a recent Gallup poll showed 50 percent of Americans want to legalize it — but remember, there’s an “underlying dynamic of ever-increasing partisan and generational polarization” on the issue. As a result, Obama’s clear stance will likely make the campaign even more divisive.
2. It hurts Obama in swing states
Obama’s “cynical dithering” was getting old, says Allahpundit at Hot Air, and he was running the risk of losing big campaign donations from liberals if he didn’t get off the fence. But that doesn’t mean his campaign problems related to gay marriage are over. “The bolder he is in endorsing gay marriage, the bigger his headache with a whole bunch of swing states that have voted to ban” it — states like Florida, Virginia, North Carolina, and Ohio. It seems like Obama knows that. “His strategy now is simply to get it over with ASAP and then let people forget about it over the next six months.”
3. It puts Mitt Romney in a tough spot
Obama’s gay-marriage endorsement will also make things uncomfortable for GOP rival Mitt Romney, says Maggie Haberman at Politico. Romney, who now opposes gay marriage after saying in his 1994 Senate race against Ted Kennedy that he supports full equality for gays and lesbians, does not want to “focus extensively” on this issue, which opens him up to the old flip-flopper charge. But he has to solidify his base, perhaps by repeating his call for creating a federal constitutional ban on gay marriage. And that could rattle the many independents who support gay marriage.
"The total amount of U.S. student debt has now reached the landmark of $1 trillion, surpassing the total credit card debt in the country. Even worse, unlike credit card debt or home mortgages, student debt cannot be forgiven in bankruptcy, so it follows us like a shadow throughout life. President Obama is right to push for lower interest rates for student loans, and his new proposal for universities not to raise tuition any further — though not nearly enough to change the fundamental picture — would certainly move the country in the right direction. Ultimately, we must make tuition costs completely tax deductible for the middle class rather than give tax cuts to the wealthy. Otherwise, a nation that mortgages the future of its younger generation to private companies, and molds their minds by the laws of the marketplace, is sitting on a dangerous bubble."
— Yunte Huang: A student debt crisis that cannot be ignored
Two years ago, most Americans had never heard of Marco Rubio. Now, the eloquent, Tea-Party-backed, disco-despising Florida senator is a top contender for MItt Romney’s VP slot. Here, some things you might not know about him:
- Rubio’s parents fled Cuba… before Castro
In campaign speeches, and on his Senate website, Rubio has described himself as the son of “exiles from Castro’s Cuba.” But he had to backpedal when reporters discovered that his family actually left Cuba for Florida in 1956, while Fidel Castro was still plotting his revolution from Mexico. Rubio’s family history has since been picked through by the media.
- His grandfather was ordered deported
Another wrinkle in Rubio’s family history emerged on Wednesday: According to a book excerpt published by Politico, U.S. authorities wanted to deport his maternal grandfather, Pedro Victor Garcia in 1962, but Garcia stayed in the U.S. anyway. The upcoming biography on Rubio by Washington Post reporter Manuel Roig-Franzia says Garcia’s legal status was murky for years — a potentially problematic biographical detail in a political party dominated by conservatives who want to crack down on illegal immigration.
- Rubio was baptized a Mormon…
When Marco Rubio was 7 or 8, his family moved to Las Vegas. After the move, Marco, his mother, and sister Veronica, who were Catholics, were baptized as Mormons, encouraged by an aunt who had already converted. Marco was an active participant in his new church. “He was totally into it,” cousin Michelle Denis tells BuzzFeed. But Rubio’s father, a bartender, “couldn’t embrace a faith that wouldn’t let him drink and smoke,” according to Roig-Franzia’s biography.
- …Then embraced Catholicism again
When Rubio’s family returned to Miami, Rubio, his mother, and sister converted back to Catholicism. The future senator received his first communion at 13. “He really convinced the whole family to switch religions,” Michelle Denis tells Buzzfeed. “He’s very vocal so he convinced them all to become Catholic.”
"Eager to forecast Romney’s VP pick, the supposedly smart crowd, as they do every four years, will do the electoral math, scan voting patterns, read the tea leaves, and then generate some all-too-easily-predictable guesses that Mitt’s No. 2 will be someone from a swing state with lots of electoral votes who happens to be telegenic, smart, and young. The problem? The smart crowd has never been too smart with its predictions."
— Paul Branduz on the many misconceptions of Mitt Romney’s veepstakes
In 1998, after months of mysterious weakness and numbness, Ann was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, an often debilitating neurological disorder. She took steroids to stabilize the disease, but now relies mostly on a combination of alternative treatments, including acupuncture, craniosacral therapy, and her“joy therapy,” horseback riding. She has become quite skilled at dressage, a form of horse training and riding involving “seven-figure horses and four-figure saddles,” and competes at amateur and even professional-level competitions, winning several medals. She’s so into her hobby-therapy that son Josh Romney got his father a horse mask for Christmas in 1996, with the advice: “Maybe Mom will pay as much attention to you as she does to the horses.”
Many Americans still know very little about the wife of presumptive GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney. Here, 7 surprising facts about Ann Romney
President Obama is getting a fat check from the IRS this year — $25,000 — which is enough to single-handedly put a family of four over the poverty threshold. Historically speaking, however, it’s on the smallish side. Here’s a look by the numbers:
$789,674 — The Obamas’ 2011 income, largely comprised of book royalties and his $400,000 presidential salary
$162,074 — Amount the Obamas paid in federal taxes in 2011, plus $31,941 in Illinois state taxes
$207,818 — Mitt Romney’s estimated 2011 tax refund (Mitt is expected to pay roughly $3.5 million in federal taxes on nearly $21 million in income.)
$127,200 — The Bushes’ tax refund in 2000, the year Bush was elected
$124,582 — Amount Ronald Reagan owed the IRS in 1982
