(9 am. – promoted by ek hornbeck)
After being elected, in part, on his promises to repeal DADT and DOMA, President Obama is now doubling-down on using the GLBT community for his own ends:
by John Aravosis (DC) on 8/09/2009 12:41:00 PM
I don’t believe it for a minute, and I suspect more than a few people in Obamaland are going to freak when they hear about this. But that’s what Joe Solmonese, the head of the Human Rights Campaign, seems to be claiming in a new interview. That Obama has a secret plan to lift the ban on gays and lesbians serving in the military, and that the ban is going to be lifted next spring.
They [the Obama administration] see the overturning of don’t ask, don’t tell along that spectrum as something that will likely happen next spring.
Sure. Right before the congressional elections. Lets all mark our calendars now.
To his credit, John Aravosis doesn’t believe it, and he shouldn’t…
The White House has forced the Blue Dogs to take a stand on Health Care reform. He has yet to take a stand himself on gay/lesbian issues. Instead, like the Republican Party and the Evangelical Movement, President Obama is using the gay/lesbian community for fundraising and votes. He isn’t actually delivering anything to them, just promises, and more promises, all during election years.
The gay/lesbian community doesn’t need to speak up. They need to back out totally until they actually get what was promised to them. Then, and only then, should they again open their wallets and votes to President Obama and the Democratic Party.
For decades, Roe v Wade has been used by the GOP to turn out voters and raise cash. Yet, when they actually held enough the White House and Congress, they did nothing. Still, the GOP uses abortion as a club against their base for votes and money. Unfortunately, these people are stupid enough to believe it was the Democrats who didn’t allow it to happen when, in fact, it was the GOP’s own inaction.
The gay/lesbian community is smarter than that. They know it is President Obama and Democrats in Congress who are simply not pushing the issue.
Some gay/lesbian groups, just like the religious right, still believe that anything they get is better than nothing, even if it is lip service. This is wrong. They were made promises, and, those promises need to be kept before any more money, or, any more votes are cast. To say, “where else do we go” is the exact mentality that the Democrats, just like the GOP, counts upon. Even if all they get is lip service, isn’t that more than the other Party will give them? The result is the same. Nothing.
Some people say, “but, if we don’t support the Democrats, that just guarantees the other side victory, and didn’t we see what that means with Bush?” Obviously, the damage done by Bush wasn’t enough. The DEMOCRATS aren’t investigating. The DEMOCRATS aren’t stepping forward to prosecute. So, obviously, the damage wasn’t enough. Even with the financial meltdown, President Obama has sided with the corporations and Wall Street. If the Democrats and President Obama won’t do what must be done, with two election mandates, there is absolutely no reason to trust their election year promises.
That is why the gay/lesbian community must shut down its support NOW. Don’t make threats. Don’t try to bargain. Shut it down until the promises made are kept. Let President Obama and the Democratic Party ponder that loss of support NOW, before election year. Let them realize that their promises mean nothing. In this, the gay/lesbian community can lead a charge, one into the ranks of the Democratic Party. Rahm Emmanual is already shitting his pants at how liberal groups are fighting back against the Parties inaction and impotence.
The liberal blogosphere, combined with a unified gay/lesbian community, DOES have the chance to scare the Democratic Party to the straight and narrow.
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We just got a trans-inclusive ENDA brought to the Senate, the Matthew Shepard Act has passed both chambers (just trying to get the omnibus bill crafted to avoid veto), the HIV travel ban is finally in its last stages of implementation, etc.
This is by no means a ringing endorsement of the Obama administration’s frustrating stance on LGBT issues, but the fact is that we have decades-in-the-making legislation that is going through Congress, that will get the president’s signature, and that will go into effect likely by the end of this year.
And of course, there are other battles that really do need us to be angry, like the ones you’ve mentioned. No disagreement there, but I’m not willing to completely disengage when there really is stuff happening, and stuff that needs us to be loud and supportive.
Is it a devil’s bargain? Maybe, but you have to consider that different parts of the LGBT community prioritize different aspects of the movement differently. Employment non-discrimination is priority one for a large contingent of our population, and that’s in play right now. Why in the world should they disengage?
The social issues like GLBT,race,age discrimnation have to go through extensive social modeling programs so as to extract the maximum political advantage to the current politically dominant party on how best to exploit people for profit and or control aspects.