Sound familiar? It sure does. After Bill Clinton was elected in 1992 he “agreed to postpone for six months his plan to suspend the military ban on gays.” Instead, we got Don’t Ask Don’t Tell and the Defense of Marriage Act.
I wouldn’t have as much of a problem with this—DADT is far less important than same-sex marriage, queer youth homelessness, and AIDS—if it weren’t yet another indicator of Obama’s complete apathy regarding queer people.
The fact that he barely whispered his opposition to Prop 8, his (and Biden’s) particularly vocal opposition to same-sex marriage, and his seeming inability to muster the courage to squeak out a few phrases about other queer issues in general (even Edwards spoke out about queer youth homelessness) does not augur well for America’s gay rights movement.
Let’s not forget that repealing DADT has overwhelming support. If Obama has to beat around the bush like this on such a popular issue, what direction will he take on same-sex marriage, the obviously unconstitutional “Defense” of Marriage Act, or any variety of other issues even more vital to the queer community (and less popular nationally)?
Furthermore, economically, I think that anyone who was expecting major changes to come once Obama takes office will be forced to have a reality check very soon. Like I’ve mentioned before, he doesn’t have a single representative of labor amongst his economic advisers—they’re all upper-class white men (except for one upper-class white woman).
Obama is not the socialist so many people painted him to be (as if it weren’t obvious enough during the election).
Bill Clinton didn’t care about gay people, and neither does Obama. Let’s hope that the Democratic Congress has grown some balls recently.
Oh, dear God – will you let the man officially get into office BEFORE you start saying who he cares about, and does not care about. First, he will need to clean up the mess left by George Bush. If you want to point the “he doesn’t care” finger, point it at George Bush. The fact is, when Bush’s reign is over, he will not care one wit what happens to his loyal supporters who are not in his immediate circle. After 8 plus years of support he will not care if your job is outsourced overseas or out of state, if you have enough money to retire with and live on, if you or your family have health insurance/coverage or other benefits (i.e. social security, etc.) as you continue to age, an affordable mortgage, if a loved one of yours is fighting overseas and turns in a pine box or with limbs missing, or anything else. He will say, “Thank you for eight plus years of support, SUCKERS!!!”
Stop painting Obama as indifferent until he has had the time and opportunity to repair a country driven into the ground by the Bush administration.
Said anonymous,
On November 24, 2008 at 9:06 pm: