In the middle of a presidential race in which incumbent Dem Barack Obama has accused Republican candidate Mitt Romney of flip-flopping, it seems as if the flopper-in-chief doesn't care what anyone thinks about his own flip-flops.  Two days following its threat to pull funds from his campaign, the LGBT group, In the Life Media, applauded Obama's "evolution" in supporting gay marriage, a first in presidential history.

But was the threat of losing the funds really the impetus behind Obama's change of heart?  And, if not, why has he spent years gradually moving away from pro-gay support before finally jumping on the Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transexual bandwagon?

“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.”

Smooth.  That was Obama's "thinking" on same-sex marriage after he'd had time to evolve.  He couldn't spit the words out without stumbling all over himself--not even after the White House had cleared the field with Democratic rollouts Bill Clinton, Joe Biden, and Education Secretary Arne Duncan, all of whom came out before Obama had endorsed gay marriage--all in a calculated attempt to soften the impact of Obama’s "position."

Talk about a profile in courage.

More like a profile in economics: Ninety minutes after making his history-shattering statement, In the Life Media, which had been in constant contact with the White House for days, announced a campaign contribution of $1 million to Obama's reelection fund.  Less than 24 hours after that, actor George Clooney threw a fundraiser where Obama's newly "discovered" gay supporters lavished him with yet another $15 million.

Nice work if you can get it.

Not that Obama's newly found support for gay marriage is all that new.  While running for one of the most liberal Illinois state senate seats in 1996, Obama came out in favor of gay unions at all costs.  He went so far as to condemn anyone who tried to prevent gays from marrying.  And he won the election.

But when it was time to up the stakes and run for the position of U.S. Senator, Obama's support for gay marriage began to evaporate.  No longer representing a loony-tunes fringe of gay activists and anarchists, he had to play to a substantially larger crowd with substantially more power.  And candidate Obama, circa 2004, espoused the belief that marriage was a sacred institution between a man and woman only--and won the election.

Four years later, as Democratic nominee for President of the United States, he played to a larger audience still.  Obama took an even stronger turn to the right, declaring that he was dead set against "gay marriage"--and won the election.

Today, of course, firmly entrenched in a home that is substantially more prestigious than his former digs right down the street from Bill Ayers and other fellow Chicago-area radicals and anarchists, the president's "evolution" has brought him back to where it all began 16 years ago--on yet another quest for an election victory, at any cost.

It seems funny that, over the course of all those years, one man could be so influenced by big power and even bigger money.  And so uninfluenced by the truth.  Nearly 70 percent of voting Americans believe the president lied when he proclaimed his feelings on gay marriage had evolved "over time."  But those numbers mean nothing to a politico who, once faced with the threat of losing a large constituency of supporters and an even larger chunk of change, suddenly found a new sense of commitment--only after carrying out a three-star performance on par with the most elaborate of kindergarten skits.

Yet this spectacle of the president's evolutionary hypocrisy--this starkly flawed and transparently choreographed dance that started on the left, moved steadily to the right, and only recently swung back to the left when his supporters threatened to abandon him--leaves me with one simple question.

What took you so long?

And I…am D. J. Herda.

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D. J. Herda is President of the American Society of Authors and Writers (http://amsaw.org), an organization made up of authors, writers, editors, publishers, agents, directors, producers, and other media professionals who rely upon the printed word in the creation of quality literature and entertainment.  He is a member of the Author's Guild, a former member of the American Society of Journalists and Authors, and a former member of the National Press Club.  He has published more than 80 books and several hundred thousand articles, short stories, columns, interviews, plays, and scripts.