Well, this paragraph reads a bit funny, doesn’t it?
Just days after winning the presidency, Obama vowed that he would be “a fierce advocate for gay and lesbian Americans.”
But nine months later, many in the community say he has done little to make good on that statement. They accuse the president of putting their agenda on the back burner — behind Wall Street regulation, health care, climate change and a series of foreign-policy issues.
When you’ve spent a good part of your life fighting for gay rights and equality, and/or suffering from the lack thereof, it may seem like seeing your concerns addressed is the most pressing issue imaginable. You may be in no mood for delay. But, while it is far from certain that Obama couldn’t have moved on some issues of special concern to the gay community before now, accusing him of putting their agenda behind Wall Street regulation, health care, climate change, and foreign policy issues is a bit insane. In the priorities facing the nation, those four obviously come out on top. I’d add job creation and foreclosure mitigation to the list. In fairness, the Washington Post reporters who crafted that paragraph were not quoting anyone. That was their interpretation of the criticism that Obama has been receiving, but it is probably not a fair interpretation. Perhaps we should work with actual quotes:
“As someone who supported Barack Obama early on during the primaries, and raised nearly $50,000 for him during the campaign, it gives me no pleasure to burst the pink champagne bubbles of hope,” John Aravosis, a gay rights activist and popular blogger, wrote in the Huffington Post. “But President Obama’s track record on keeping his gay promises has been fairly abominable.”
I don’t interpret that criticism to be aimed at Obama’s setting of priorities. I think Aravosis expects Obama to be able to do more than a few things at a time. And, regardless, pressure needs to be kept on so that Obama doesn’t forget that fulfilling his promises to the gay community is somewhere in the queue.
Tonight, Obama gave a speech before the Human Rights Campaign and reiterated his promises.
…inside the $250-a-plate black-tie event, some 3,000 guests from around the country were in a festive mood. Pop singer Lady Gaga and cast members from the Fox comedy “Glee” performed at the dinner. C-SPAN broadcast Obama’s portion of the event live — one sign of the interest surrounding his first address to a big gay rights gathering as president…
“I will end ‘don’t ask, don’t tell,’ ” Obama said at the Human Rights Campaign dinner. Recounting the ongoing effort to bring full civil rights to gays and lesbians, the president said: “I’m here with a simple message: I’m here with you in that fight.”
…”I expect and hope to be judged not by words, not by promises I’ve made, but by the promises that my administration keeps,” the president said to sustained applause. “We’ve been in office six months now. I suspect that by the time this administration is over, I think you guys will have pretty good feelings about the Obama administration.”
The Democrats crammed the Hate Crimes Bill into the Defense Authorization Bill, infuriating Republicans. But it will soon pass. I fully expect that the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy will end before the end of his first term. A bigger question is whether or not Obama will be willing or able to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act. That will be a tougher battle.
I , for one, am willing to wait but do hope we finally see some results instead of business as usual. Being thrown under the bus over and over by most Democratic elected officials becomes very painful and disheartening after so many years of it happening.
Sing it, sister!
I am CERTAIN that the Obama admin will get to this at the right time. Some of us are a bit more anxious than others. But we do see that there are more pressing issues right now (like the very solvency of the US.)
Where I get disapointed with Obama is when I see him NOT act on good people being tossed out of the military under DADT. It takes an act of congress to undo DADT but he could, by executive order, forbid the prosecutions of DADT cases until congress acts. And he doesn’t. So that makes me sad. To see good, loyal GAY soldiers tossed aside is a real shame.
And so it goes…
President Obama’s four point plan: Hate Crimes first, then ENDA, followed by the elimination of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” Then, repeal of “The Defense of Marriage Act” in Barack Obama’s second term.
If all goes according to (his) plan, we should have hate crimes and ENDA passed by the end of this year. If not, let us consider a direct. non-violent,approach.
That seems about right (as I recall from the campaign.) I DO expect that he will come through for us. He’s the real thing.
But I DO get a little upset when he sits back and allows DADT to continue being prosecuted. He could quietly issue orders to the military to knock it off until congress acts. No media attention would be necessary. But if the media made a big deal of it, he could just say that it’s a matter of justice. We have an un-just policy that must be addressed but he won’t be a part of destroying the hopes, dreams and careers of good young soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines while it comes up on the agenda in the congress. He as Commander in Chief has this authority but refuses to use it.
The Democrats crammed the Hate Crimes Bill into the Defense Authorization Bill, infuriating Republicans.
The Republicans were going to have a hissy fit over the Hate Crimes Bill no matter when it was brought up. It doesn’t matter that it was attached to the Defense Authorization bill. It could have been a stand alone and the Republicans would still whine like the WATB’s they are.
Oh, but it ensures it will pass, as well as it’s all the sweeter since Dems are practically daring them to vote a must-pass appropriations bill they especially like.
I say put all the legislation on defense-related bills, and watch their heads explode.
I wonder if Aravosis is aware that “Wall Street regulation, health care, climate change, and foreign policy issues” also impacts his community? Not to diminish his concerns but he is coming across as a “one trick pony!”
John Aravosis is an asshole Republican who loved working for Ted Stevens (R-AK) for years and only recently changed his stripes during the Bush Admin and became a so-called Democrat. He is a selfish prick who cares about his personal fortunes far more than anyone else’s rights. I read his blog for a few years until he decided that the Democrats care too much about poor and middle-class people. When he bought his overpriced DC condo, he got totally furious that he couldn’t qualify for the different homeowner assistance programs because he makes too much money.
I love his co-bloggers Joe Sudbay and “Chris from Paris,” but I rarely read the blog anymore because John’s such a prissy little bitch. Whenever he chimes in, it’s an out of touch opinion piece centered around his royal self. He’s the wanna-be Seean Hannity of the American gay community. Give me a break.
I feel similarly about the Human Rights Campaign. Watch out, folks. Once we gay folk finally achieve our basic human rights, this could become one of the most powerful Republican special interest groups. It’s a bunch of gay white guys who love wearing tuxedos to cocktail parties and couldn’t give a rat’s ass about anyone “less than” themselves. Seriously, watch out for these fascists.
Why does it seems like many gays and lesbians just hate the HRC? I’m just curious.
I see them as the NAACP of gay rights advocacy: kinda stodgy, kinda old-fashioned, slow to change, perhaps more influential with elected officials than with the community for which they say they advocate, but definitely the “safe” organization–which still, somehow manages to scare the crap out of the community’s opponents.
Is that near the mark, or are they in fact, more sinister? Again, just curious.
Last night on RealTime, Bill Maher had a brilliant idea for Obama during “New Rules” – bring up “Don’t ask, Don’t tell” RIGHT NOW. It would make Rush Limbaugh “explode like a bagful of meat dropped from a helicopter” and take all of the scrutiny off of the healthcare debate from the crazy teabaggers, since they are only capable of one issue at a time in their little bird-sized brains.
HuffPo made a decent clip of it at this article here. Go watch it.
There are couple of changes; as a result of Obama policies, but economical situation is still there; no body know what gona happen, personally i like Obama but am not quite satisfied with war and terror policies of govt, as nation is suffering in great economical crises, people from all industries(finance, designing, software development, web hosting, trading etc etc) are loosing their jobs, as companies are forced to downsize. It is my humble request to Obama; kindly notice it before we lost every thing in other countries wars.
Article carry lot of information about Obama’s views, I would like to suggest to Mr President please focus on other businesses like seo, cheap web hosting etc to get nation beyond the boundaries of success.Its need to promote these to give chances of promotion in the field of IT.In this era we need to have all skills related to all aspects of life like dedicated server to remain superpower for long time.