In Other News, Obama Did Not Sleep With Joe Biden

Really? People actually think that Barack Obama was homophobic last night at the debate? Just to recap, here's the video, via Dave Weigel:

Now, unless you're crazy, Obama is either joking about him not having slept with Biden, or about him not sleeping around on his wife; Biden's comments could have been taken (wrongly) to imply either of those things, and Obama was humorously clarifying.
Unfortunately, some people are crazy. Such as Alex Belenky at TNR:

So while he's all for combating homophobia within the African American community, it seems he also doesn't want anyone to get the impression that he's on the down-low.

Um, no. It mainly seems that he doesn't want anyone to get the impression that he slept with Joe Biden or anyone otherwise not his wife. It also seems, or, rather, is completely obvious, that he was joking. Anyone who seriously thinks that Obama is a homophobe would be well-served to consider this statement of his from the debate:

"One of the things we've got to overcome is a stigma that still exists in our communities," Obama said. "We don't talk about this. We don't talk about it in the schools, sometimes we don't talk about it in the churches. It has been an aspect of, sometimes, our homophobia that we don't address this issue as clearly as it needs to be."

Real gay-basher, that guy. That quote, by the way, is from Jon Cohn's excellent recap of the debate, which focuses on Obama's unique ability to speak tough truths to the black community. Like most of Cohn's writing, it's well worth reading. Go check it out.

Comments

[Arlen]

This is silly, every reasonable person without an ax to grind against Obama can tell he just saw a great opportunity for a laugh-line and took it. And besides, people were already laughing before Obama even spoke. He totally stole the moment too- I remember watching Biden try to finish his point over the laughter and clapping from the audience and for a moment there the PBS producers almost seemed like they didn't know who to cut to.