THE ATLANTIC: Why Obama Isn’t Backing Gay Marriage: It’s not that he’s worried about upsetting conservatives. It’s that he can’t afford to lose black voters who overwhelmingly oppose it. “California’s Proposition 8 ban on same-sex marriage passed in 2008 thanks to overwhelming black support; 70 percent backed it, according to exit polls. Recent gay marriage legislation in Maryland drew opposition from leading Democratic African-American legislators in the state. The same ministers organizing get-out-the-vote efforts in black churches for Obama are also railing against gay marriage.”

But nobody’s calling them bigots. Is that itself the soft bigotry of lower expectations, or is it just political opportunism?