In the mid-90s, author Toni Morrison famously referred to Bill Clinton as "the first black President" based on his empathy, efforts to foster broad socioeconomic equality and commitment to issues important to African-American community at large.
Newsweek plays off this quote in its new cover story on President Barack Obama.
Following Obama's public support of same-sex marriage, he has been dubbed The First Gay President ... in a manner of speaking of course:
While Obama's statement was groundbreaking and bold, will his "coming out" on behalf of gay marriage even make a different in November’s election?
"If you were going to cast your vote based on a candidate's position regarding same-sex marriage, you were already going to vote for Obama [or] Romney based on that," Massachusetts Rep. Barney Frank said on ABC's This Week.
"I literally don't think anybody's vote was changed one way or the other."
In any case, Obama’s end to “evolving” on gay marriage will continue to generate critical comment, and not all of it positive, even from the left.
“His embrace of gay marriage was not a profile in courage,” New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd wrote, taking issue with adulation shown toward the President (such as on the cover above) more than anything.
“Even when he does the right thing, by the time he does it and in the way he does it, he drains away excitement and robs himself of the admiration he would otherwise be due ... Why doesn’t he just do the exhilarating thing immediately?"
"Why does he have to be dragged kicking and screaming to principle?”
With Obama's face pictured looking skyward and a rainbow-colored halo above his head, the controversial cover leads to a story written by openly gay writer Andrew Sullivan, a self-described political conservative.
The boundary-pushing May 21 Newsweek issue featuring Obama, available Monday, comes after Time magazine's breastfeeding cover last week, which featured an attractive 26-year-old mother nursing her toddler son.
The cover sparked strong reactions across the world last week and led a Newsweek spokesperson to tell the New York Post that the magazine's editor Tina Brown had viewed the cover as a challenge.
"When Tina saw the Time cover, she laughed and said, 'Let the games begin,'" the spokesperson told the Post.
Game on.
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