Obama criticizes Romney as 'backwards on equality'

LOS ANGELES (AP) — President Barack Obama wasted little time casting his historic embrace of same-sex marriage as a political wedge issue Thursday, telling a Hollywood fundraising crowd that it shows how his vision of the country differs from Republicans.

Speaking at a dinner at the home of George Clooney, Obama raised the issue gay marriage obliquely, saying simply to enthusiastic applause: "Obviously, yesterday we made some news."

"It was a logical extension of what America is supposed to be," he said. "It grew directly out of this difference in visions: Are we a country that includes everybody and give everybody a shot and treats everybody fairly?"

Obama's remarks came at the end of a day when his campaign seemed eager to transform his support of gay marriage into donor enthusiasm and grass-roots vigor. In a web video, the campaign portrayed Republican rival Mitt Romney as "backwards on equality."

The Clooney fundraiser in Los Angeles' Studio City area was in the heart of celebrity gay marriage activism.

White House spokesman Jay Carney brushed aside questions about the timing of the attack on Romney, saying that Obama and Romney had differed on issues of gay rights even before the president declared his support for same-sex marriage.

"Gov. Romney is for an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would enshrine discrimination into our founding legal document," Carney said. "The president thinks that's wrong. So their positions were starkly different before yesterday."

In Seattle, where he was attending two fundraisers, Obama witnessed the support first hand as his motorcade passed a woman holding an infant and a sign that said: "Thank you! Mr. President for standing up for my mommys!"

He drew big cheers from supporters Read more