It’s 2010 and we’re still stuck in a time warp.
Pres. Obama on the unconstitutionality of California’s gay marriage ban:
“The President has spoken out in opposition to Proposition 8 because it is divisive and discriminatory. He will continue to promote equality for LGBT Americans.”
Not very impressive, I know, but what did you expect? We are talking about Pres. Obama.
As a candidate he did not support gay marriage: “I believe that marriage is between a man and woman and I am not in favor of gay marriage.”
Pres. Obama is sounding decidedly like Joe Scarborough did on “Morning Joe” today, minus the states rights bs. Straddling personal beliefs because of ideological connections and the worry you might upset someone you need in your corner. Joe was called out by his guests, with John Heilemann saying he was “stuck in the 1950s.” Scarborough had a tough morning today.
Enough rhetoric, let’s review Obama’s actions. For instance, take DADT, where Obama has been all talk, waiting for Congress so he doesn’t have to get his electoral prowess dirty. The same for gay marriage. But guess what, it won’t matter in the end, because gays and lesbians are not going to vote Republican. However, if they give Pres. Obama one dime they’re suckers, though I believe unless he actually fights for them they should at the very least strike all elections until he does.
That’s how Pres. Obama and other Democrats get away with talking a good game, but never delivering on anything that actually represents substantial change. They know when the voting gets tough and people are looking at the right taking charge, people come home to daddy.
Voters on the left, as well as some movement progressives, are as much to blame as any politician, including Pres. Obama, for the status quo. Many just don’t have the courage of their convictions when push comes to the voting booth.
His position is ridiculous. David Axelrod was on MSNBC today to say that:
1) The president opposes same-sex marriage, but supports civil unions.
2) He think marriage is a state issue so DOMA should be repealed.
3) And he opposed prop 8 because it is mean-spirited.
I don’t get it. If he opposes same-sex marriage and thinks it is a state issue, why did he oppose prop 8? The year he was born, his parents could not have legally married in many US states. He just looks silly right now.
More mealy mouthed crap from President Spineless.
Mealy mouthed? How can you say such a thing? I thought that the crap was fairly defined, with just a hint of “port-o-potty” esssence!
“That’s how Pres. Obama and other Democrats get away with talking a good game, but never delivering on anything that actually represents substantial change. They know when the voting gets tough and people are looking at the right taking charge, people come home to daddy.” TM
Yep, even when “daddy” routinely uses and ignores them, and that is true across the board, not just LGBTs, which is what I think you meant, Taylor, but I just needed to be explicit
. Not all of us, however, will be going “home” in November. Selective voting, not voting … not fun options, but in my opinion, better than another round of going home for more bad treatment by daddy.
The fear of those who support this judicial decision is, of course, that the Supreme Court is not a friendly place for us, and if the ruling goes against us, it will be a major set-back. I think good arguments can be made that it would still result in some benefits. But no doubt yesterday’s ruling will be seen as a gift by the Reps. They’ll make all kinds of “protect marriage” noises again, and we can probably count on Obama saying as little as possible, and when he does speak, it will be in the same tone as his statment quoted in the post.
Gutless.
In a word.
Proposition 8 “fails to advance any rational basis in singling out gay men and lesbians for denial of a marriage license. Indeed, the evidence shows Proposition 8 does nothing more than enshrine in the California Constitution the notion that opposite-sex couples are superior to same-sex couples. … Because Proposition 8 prevents California from fulfilling its constitutional obligation to provide marriages on an equal basis, the court concludes that Proposition 8 is unconstitutional.” Judge Walker
As for the president: For someone so eloquent in speech, it’s appalling that he, even at the peak of his popularity, would not make comment himself in regard to ongoing battles in the states on marriage equality. Always — some official restating his position with a weakly worded, vague, generic statement after a landmark decision.
He ignores us.
He mentions gays in the State of the Union, sure; but that’s where it ends. Remember Newsom’s claim, one of the candidates “won’t even have their picture taken with me”. That was the President.
What makes him think his partnership is superior to mine?
But, we knew this all along.
The clothes have no emperor. He doesn’t think. He doesn’t do. He just says, and what he says is whatever his corporate masters need him to say. He is a spokesmodel. Who knows what he really thinks.
As for anyone who really does think his partnership is superior to yours, I’d say it was because that person is very insecure at the base of things.
He ignores us in terms of doing anything for us, absolutely. It will be interesting to see if he gives us some attention toward election time ….
This two-sentence “fine, whatever” is a wonderful statement of Congratulations to all Americans who value human rights.
Heck, a fistbump from the First Lady would have been better.
I think the problem here is more than spinelessnes. I think Obama is actually against gay marriage and uncomfortable with LGTB issues in general.Remember he is not really a Democrat,he just borrowed the party for his own purposes.
I think he’s a closet conservative who has some kind of problem with rights actually being recognized by the courts… he prefers them in limbo… lgbt rights, women’s rights… keep the left in limbo… all the easier to hold our votes hostage.
Just for your information, Obama really is NOT uncomfortable with LGTB issues or against Gay Marriage. I agree that he is sounding like a waffle in his lame remarks – but know that he is just putting the issue into the military’s hands (DADT) and will let the courts decide issues on gay marriage.
This may seem a little out of left field, but I need to mention where my thinking comes from – my colleague at work is best friends with a gay man who used to work for both Michelle and Obama when he was in the IL state senate and has remained friends with them since, often visiting their family in the WH. He has assured me on numerous occassions that Obama is NOT anti-gay at all and nothing he does in his daily life indicates that he is, at least according to my friend. just put it down as gutless or whatever you want, but his ‘half-baked’ support as you see it is not because he is uncomfortable with gay issues. Both Obama and Hillary were NOT in favor of gay marriage – supported civil unions with all benefits – throughout the primaries. Would admitting support of gay marriage do any candidate any good? doubtful.
Thanks for the insight but that almost makes it worse!
Nobody said he was anti-gay. But, just because he knows and has gay friends doesn’t make him PRO-gay. He said he would be a “fierce advocate” for the community. I’m calling him a liar. His administration has been quiet on these marriage and civil union issues and it isn’t because he believes in states rights. If he did, he’d let AZ pass for what they did on immigration and the administration wouldn’t hav such a heavy hand in state’s election outcomes. He and the DNC isn’t sending liasons to help in the fight, and in fact, has distracted from the fight putting candidates over causes – robo calls for candidates in NJ over help against Maine’s Marriage repeal.
It was the State Department, on SOS Clinton’s demand, which was first to announce partner benefits in a federal government agency. Which was a bold move at the time, moving ahead of the Prez.
When it comes to Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, we are talking commissions and discussions and querries. The man could end it tomorrow w the stroke of a pen. Instead, he lets the Brass control it. And what does the Pentagon do? Send out a survey drudging up homophobic fears by asking soldiers what they’d do if they had to shower with a gay.
And we had officials making statements about our March on Washington saying that the only thing we would be pressuring is the grass beneath out feet. Match that with Barney Frank saying just yesterday that the younger generation can wait, our time will come.
He is creating a culture. Don’t you see, Gef49?
He has a choice and he is being silent. The only place he maked bold statements on LGBT issues is in his State of the Union. Why? Because those speeches, generations upon generations, are enshrined and he KNOWS his inaction is on the wrong side of history. 50 years from now, a 5th grader will try to tell me all he did for gays because of his promises in those speeches.
“He will continue to promote equality for LGBT Americans.”
Then he’d better look up what ‘equality’ actually means. If he’s not for marriage, then he’s not for equality. End, full stop.
Every time that “he’s for equal rights for LGBT Americans” line is trotted out I see red: it makes me flipping furious.
Well, well, well… good to read you again, Grey. It’s been a while.
“Voters on the left, as well as some movement progressives, are as much to blame as any politician, including Pres. Obama, for the status quo. Many just don’t have the courage of their convictions when push comes to the voting booth.”
Well, at least *I* had the courage of my convictions, though there was really only one race where MY vote could’ve resulted in a different outcome. I live in AL, in the 2nd Congressional district. I could NOT vote for Obama, despite the “D” by his name, so I wrote in Cynthia McKinney (yes, McKinney was perhaps marginally less qualified but I couldn’t recall an instance where she backed down from ANY position, no matter how unpopular or “wacky” it might have been); the Green Party’s platform most strongly resembled my own positions but the Party didn’t qualify for ballot status in the state.
As to the Senate race, my vote went to another African-American, Vivian Figures, who was up against that porktard Jeff Sessions (who’s made such an absolutely pompous asshole of himself in both the Sotomayor and Kagan confirmation hearings). Figures had the opportunity to be not only the first duly-elected female Senator from the State, but the first ever African-American. While the total popular vote in the Presidential and Senate races was fairly close, Sessions got more votes for Senator than McCain did for President, and Obama got more votes for President than Figures got for Senator. (When I went to my polling place, I saw a lot of African-American voters carrying little flyers that had Obama’s name very prominently noted. I managed to get an up-close look at one of the flyers and didn’t see any name but Obama’s on it. So much for supporting the party ticket.)
As for the 2nd District race, I just couldn’t support Bobby Bright. I’d voted for him as mayor of Montgomery, but there was a genuinely progressive candidate who’d run for the Democratic nomination–Cheryl Sabel (pro-labor/pro-union, pro-choice, against the Constitutional abuses perpetrated under the Bush administration). Bright was a typical Conservative Democrat and campaigned to go to DC as an “independent” voice; of course, that didn’t stop the GOP from smearing him as a “radical liberal Obama supporter.” I wrote in Sabel’s name, despite the likelihood that Bright’s GOP opponent, Jay Love, might win. I honestly didn’t see all that much difference between Bright and Love, and considering the 2nd District had been in GOP hands as long as I’ve lived in Alabama, an Alabama Conservative Democrat is really not that different from an Alabama Republican.
JozefAL says:
05 August 2010 at 3:48 pm
“Voters on the left, as well as some movement progressives, are as much to blame as any politician, including Pres. Obama, for the status quo. Many just don’t have the courage of their convictions when push comes to the voting booth.”******
Good for you. I share your sentiments, and I agree with Taylor’s POV as clearly stated above.
Last week, while discussing the Warren nomination, SecretaryClintonBlog stated: “Some things are unforgivable”, I agree with that too, but once in the voting booth Democrats then turn right around and . . . forgive, ostensibly because Republicans are worse or some such. No courage. No convictions.
In making the statement above, I wonder whether TM is at the unforgivable stage.
You are right JozefAL.
Until Gay Americans get the right to marry, a minority in this country is not fully equal. We still have DADT on the books. I was watching when the gay and lesbian couples were so happy when they heard what the judge said. How can anyone be against someone being happy and living their life !!
Taylor,
It would be nice if you at least occassionally blamed centrists and white Christian racists within the Democratic party today, instead of Progressives or Liberals. I don’t worship money and talk moral values, so and I am NOT to blame.
What did Bill Clinton’s support of Blance Lincoln do for the DNC? She is toast and now some RW lockstepper will replace her in November. She rarely voted Democratic, so no real loss. However, in the polls, Halter led the Republican nominee, not Blanche. Again, she will get waxed. Thanks Bill.
How Progressive is Senator Lincoln? She tried to claim that the Chamber of Commerce is actually pro-worker. I am sure Bill Clinton and Barack Obama would agree. What a joke. The most evil divisive group are the Chamber of Commerce folks. I live in a liberal city and the Democrats here that are part of that nutjob organization are just as big of *ssholes as the RWers.
Can SOMEONE please explain to me why it is that the only demographic making money hand over fist today is rich Americans? And why is it now that we all MUST bendover and let them ramrod us up the *ss again with even more taxcuts JUST so they will do what they always claim they do: create private sector jobs. When does the REAL majority, us, tell them to FOAD and tax the sh*t outta them?
Now that would be REAL leadership, with cajones and guts! NO Democratic politician or elected official will do it, so don’t blame Progressives or liberals. We ain’t the ones in bed with the SUPER RICH nor are we being bought by them — centrists and Republicans ARE, however!
Case in point: Harold Ford was on Meet The Press a few Sundays ago. He is the president of the Democratic Leadership Council. He told David Gregory, Rachel Maddow (also on the panel) and the nation that the three keys to Dem victory in November were: 1) Make Bush taxcuts permanent. 2) More taxcuts to the corporations and lower capital gains tax. 3) Democrats needed to be less partisan towards Republicans. Can you believe that BS? It’s straight out of Karl Rove’s playbook!
That DLC is one fine organization you created Misters Clinton and Gore. I am sure Rahm Emanuel, Barack Obama, Eddie Rendell, James Carville and all the other so called DC centrists would agree. So would my outgoing Senator, Evan Bayh, another major league corporate a-hole. Do you all agree with that DLC strategy on this list? If not, why are we blaming movement Progressives as they are NOT the problem!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Frankly, marriage is a religious ceremony. government ought to be out of the business of sanctioning it. Instead it ought to recognize domestic partnerships. I see nothing inconsistent with being against gay marriage, yet supporting equal protection and rights for anyone gay, or straight. Civil Unions should be the order of the day and the law of the land. If Government is a truly secular institution it should not recognize marriage in any form