[Banfield:] Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Ashleigh Banfield. Here's what we're looking at here for top stories this what are we, Thursday, already. And this is the bottom of the hour. President Obama making history, coming out in support of same- sex marriage which is a dicey political move and outraged some conservative Christians who say that they are ready to take action. Also, two overnight explosions caught in Damascus, Syria. One of those last caught on camera. You got to see it. It's quite something. Government officials are saying that dozens were killed and injured in these blasts. And normally, we are telling you about the government is doing all damage to its people. But today, this is a story about the Syrian people who are rising up. The opposition saying that they were able to destroy their own regime's intelligence agency. There was damage on the people's side, as well, though. Also, Chicago jury deciding the fate of William Balfour, Jennifer Hudson's former brother-in-law. It's resuming deliberations in the case this morning. He's, of course, is charged with murdering Hudson's mother and brother and 7-year-old nephew Zoraida.
[Sambolin:] Well, this morning President Obama taking sides in what many consider to be one of the last civil rights battles in America, same-sex marriage. In an interview with ABC News, Robin Roberts, the president became the first U.S. president to back the right of gay couples to wed.
[Barack Obama, President Of The United States:] At a certain point, I've just concluded that for me personally, it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same-sex couples should be able to get married.
[Sambolin:] The president also revealing his evolution was not just political, but has been talking about the issue with his wife and daughters and that they actually helped sway his thinking. Meanwhile, President Obama's likely Republican contender, Mitt Romney, was quick to make sure his supporters knew what he was thinking at a campaign stop in Colorado.
[Mitt Romney , Presidential Candidate:] I do not favor marriage between people of the same gender and I don't favor civil unions if they're identical to marriage other than by name.
[Sambolin:] Richard Socarides is a former senior adviser to former President Bill Clinton. He's also the president of Equality Matters and he is joining us this morning with some really great perspective. Thank you very much for being here.
[Richard Socarides, Equality Matters:] Good morning.
[Sambolin:] Good morning to you. So, you served as President Clinton's point man on gay and lesbian issues and were there when he signed the defense of marriage act back in 1996. How would you advise or how would you have advised President Obama on this issue now?
[Socarides:] Well, the interesting thing you're exactly right, I was there on that day when President Clinton signed the Defense of Marriage Act and I wrote in my piece in "The New Yorker" yesterday that the interesting thing is how far we've traveled as a country that just 16 years ago when President Clinton was president, he, you know, it was clear to me and those of us around him at the time that he did not want to sign the Defense of Marriage Act but his political advisers told him, it was too much of a risk in the middle of his re- election bid. Now, 16 years later we have almost the exact same situation. We have the president who is in the middle of a re-election bid, but the culture and the public opinion has changed so dramatically and so quickly that now the president was able to reject that advice from his political advisers and was a real profile in courage.
[Sambolin:] So, you think he rejected advice on this issue?
[Socarides:] I mean, I think he was probably getting advice on both sides. It's clear that, you know, marriage in this country marriage equality is a 5050 proposition so in some places it's going to hurt him. In some places it's going to help him. It's going to change the electoral calculus. So, I'm sure he had advisers who said, no, no, don't do that, wait a little bit.
[Sambolin:] Wait until after the election.
[Socarides:] Wait until after.
[Sambolin:] Does it surprise you he didn't?
[Socarides:] I think that they realized he realized, you know, it was beautiful the way he said in talking with his wife and daughter, he realized that the issue was too much of a front burner issue to just kind of sit on it for another six months. I don't think the press and advocates like myself would have allowed it just to sit there. So I think he really did the right thing. It is really a profile in courage. Not to take anything away from him to say that, you know, it was a calculation. I mean, he showed a lot of guts yesterday in doing this.
[Sambolin:] Let's talk about how this could be divisive, according to the most recent Gallup poll 60 percent of Democrats believe same-sex marriages should be legal.
[Socarides:] Right.
[Sambolin:] Fifty-seven percent of independents are for same-sex marriage, as well. Is he putting his entire re-election on the line with this announcement, specifically with blue collar Democrats or independents in Iowa, north we saw what happened in North Carolina, right, Ohio and Pennsylvania?
[Socarides:] I don't really think so. I think it's an important issue in our country today. But I that that people will look at each of these men and take a test of leadership and I think when the test is leadership on issues like this, it's clear that President Obama is, you know, is winning. I mean, I think that people know where he stands. I mean he's been an incredibly positive he's even before yesterday he had an incredibly positive impact on gay rights as president. People know he supports equal rights. If you're a single-issue voter, if you're going to vote for or against someone because of where they stand on same-sex marriage, you know, you're not going to be your vote your mind was not changed yesterday. So, I think people knew where he stood. Not going to change anything.
[Sambolin:] I want to talk about the
[Socarides:] And he did the right thing. That was really important.
[Sambolin:] I want to talk about that. Let's listen to a bit of his announcement and weigh in on that and how personal this was.
[Socarides:] Yes.
[Obama:] You know, Malia and Sasha have friends whose parents are same-sex couples. There have been times where Michelle and I have been sitting around the dinner table and talking about their friends and their parents, and Malia and Sasha that, it wouldn't dawn on them that somehow their friend's parents would be treated differently. It doesn't make sense to them and, frankly, that's the kind of thing that prompts a change in perspective.
[Sambolin:] You know, I'm watching you here as you are watching this and I'm sure you saw it yesterday and you're smiling and you're nodding. This was very personal, wasn't it? How did you feel about that?
[Socarides:] You know, when he talks about Michelle or the girls, those two lovely girls, you know he's like headed in the right direction always. But, you know, this is the conversation that families all over America are having about this issue. And, you know, when I hear him talking about those girls those young girls, you know, how our culture has changed. Look at those, the two heroes on "Glee" are two gay high school kids trying to figure out how to do the right thing and navigate the issue, you know, a show on a rival network FOX, which is not known for its progressive programming. So I mean, I think it's really a moment and that he was able to talk about his young girls in this context really shows you how far we've come.
[Sambolin:] Do you think that's what is going to happen now, that this dialogue will continue and perhaps we'll see those numbers continuing to change and people changing their minds about this issue?
[Socarides:] I do. I think the president talked about his journey and everybody is entitled to their journey. That's what we're doing in this country, having a discussion about this. So I think this will help the discussion and hopefully bring us to some kind of national consensus.
[Sambolin:] All right. Well, thank you very much for joining us this morning with your perspective. We appreciate it.
[Socarides:] Thanks for having me.
[Sambolin:] Richard Socarides, former senior adviser of Bill Clinton, president of Equality Matters and Democratic strategist, as well. Thank you very much for that. And until now, this issue of same-sex marriage has predominantly an issue handled at the state level, and it turns out state laws have been at odds with general public opinion on same-sex marriage. Christine Romans is breaking down the issue for us state by state this morning, which is what we were just talking about.
[Romans:] Right.
[Sambolin:] How that's going to affect the election.
[Romans:] You know, interesting because public opinion has evolved here, but the states are just catching up to perhaps the public opinion of 15 or 20 years ago. Let me show you what I mean. This is a trend line in public opinion looking back to 1996, pretty wide apart here in 1996. Those in support of same-sex marriage and those against it. No, 68 percent, yes, 27 percent. But look at how it's generally been closing, the gap has been closing since then. Today, slightly more people, this blue line, favor same-sex marriage. That's what the polls say, but what people actually are doing with their votes, what states are doing is telling a different story. This is how it looks right now in the states here. Twenty-eight states have constitutional provisions defining marriage as between a man and a woman. Those are the dark blue states here defining marriage, constitutional amendment, man or woman. Ten states have statutory provisions defining marriage as between a man and woman. That's statutory provisions, that's in the light blue or medium blue rather. Seven states issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples right now. Those are the ones in yellow. It's like Iowa, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont, New Hampshire, New York, and the District of Columbia. And then three states have statutory or judicial recognition of same-sex marriage but it hasn't taken effect yet. Those are Maryland, Washington and California. Those are in the light blue. And we have five in white and these five white the states in white have no statutory or constitutional provisions on same-sex marriage, which basically means they haven't decided yet but this is what the states look like even as that graph I showed you before shows that the opinion polls are really narrowing, Zoraida.
[Sambolin:] I know. That's why a lot are calling it a risky move. Thank you so much, Christine. Thirty-seven minutes past the hour. Ahead at 7:00 on "STARTING POINT," Soledad O'Brien gets reaction from both sides of the same-sex marriage debate when she's joined by Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, and Mitchell Gold, the founder of the group, Faith in America and longtime gay rights activist.
[Banfield:] Thirty-eight minutes now past six. And here's one to think over as you have breakfast with your kids. Kids in China are using performance-enhancing drugs for their brains. I'm not kidding, I.V. drips in the classroom, cramming for a college entry exam and that's what's supposed to be helping them? Holy cow. We'll explain. As we all take a deep breath over that, it's breathtaking. A check of today's weather story with Rob Marciano. I don't know if you saw those pictures.
[Sambolin:] Anything to keep your kids competitive, right? Good gracious.
[Marciano:] Yes, if they weren't far enough ahead as it is, now they have I.V. drips. All right. Let's go, kids. Get to school today if you're heading to school across the northeast, you'll run into rainfall from Boston, Hartford, Bridgeport. It's about to come to an end in New York City. It's already dry in Philadelphia and D.C. So figure dry the next 30 minutes and then New York, Hartford in a couple of hours and shortly after lunchtime in Boston. This front will bring in breezy and cooler and drier conditions, back side of it down across Texas, severe weather and maybe some flooding because of some heavy rain, temperatures behind the front, 66 Chicago, 77, beautiful day in Atlanta and it'll be 66 degrees once the rain passes through Boston. You're up to date weather-wise. EARLY START is coming right back.