Jonathan Gewirtz has some thoughts:
If Obama supported gun rights, many pro-gun people, even Republicans, would support him, because many pro-gun people are single-issue voters on this topic and Obama's opponent has a spotty record on gun rights. (The NRA and pro-gun rights voters have supported pro-gun Democrats in many elections.) Also, if Obama really supported the right to arms, it's likely that many additional Republican, libertarian and independent voters would support him because conservatives and libertarians often interpret a politician's support for the right to arms as a reliable proxy for that politician's support of other individual rights. This point seems especially strong now, since many Republican voters distrust Obama's opponent on free speech, business regulation and other big-govt-vs-individual-rights issues.
So on the one hand we have single-issue pro-gun people opposing Obama on guns, and on the other hand we have people who are primarily Obama partisans, not gun people, arguing that pro-gun people should trust Obama on guns. Who should we believe?
I know who I believe.
I'd also point out that this is one more area (like being post racial, and moderate) where the real Obama is being airbrushed by his supporters to appear to be something he is not.
"I'd also point out that this is one more area (like being post racial, and moderate) where the real Obama is being airbrushed by his supporters to appear to be something he is not."
Is there any area where that isn't true?
The slickness is probably genuine, one doesn't survive and thrive in Obama's original environment without it.
Two things surprise me about the Obama campaign and gun rights.
The first is Obama's regurgitation of the identical talking points used in the 2004 election by John Kerry. These talking points were invented by Kessler and promoted by the 'progressive' group Third Way. Needless to say, the talking points have the deliberate aim to insulate a Democratic candidate from a backlash by gun owners while still advancing the holy cause of gun control.
The second surprise is just how much in the tank the media is giving cover for Obama on this issue. Wait a moment, I take that back. I'm not surprised. If there is one thing the news media on a whole is bad at, even more so than promoting Democrats over Republicans, it is it's stunningly dishonest and agenda pushing bias against the NRA.