On Friday's episode of HBO's Real
Time with Bill Maher, host Bill Maher predicted President Barack
Obama will endorse gay marriage.
The topic of the president's support –
or lack of support – for marriage equality was nearly a given with
roundtable guests conservative journalist David Frum, director Rob
Reiner, Florida Representative and Democratic National Committee
(DNC) Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz and documentary filmmaker
Alexandra Pelosi.
Frum in 2011 said he was wrong about
gay marriage, saying that his own warnings that it would harm the
family have proved unfounded.
Reiner is a founding member of the
American Foundation for Equal Rights (AFER), the group formed
specifically to challenge the constitutionality of California's 2008
voter-approved gay marriage ban, Proposition 8.
Wasserman Schultz and Pelosi, the
daughter of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, are also strong gay
rights allies.
When Maher noted that Obama was to the
right of Republicans Dick Cheney and Laura Bush on the subject of
marriage equality, Wasserman Schutz pointed out that the president
had ordered the Department of Justice to no longer defend the Defense
of Marriage Act (DOMA).
“Believe me, this is a president who
has been bold and clear about the importance of equality for LGBT
Americans in this country,” she said.
“I'm just trying to keep it real and
keep it fair,” Maher said. “And I think he will [Obama will come
out in favor of gay marriage]. I think in the second term, when he's
got nothing to lose you're going to see the real Obama come out,
including his admission that he's an atheist too.” (Watch
the exchange at RealClearPolitics.com.)