Yesterday, Obama was heckled at a California fundraiser for Senator Barbara Boxer. Boxer has been holding fundraisers across the country in order to gear up for a heated and difficult race in the upcoming election. If Sarah Palin were in charge of this blog, there'd be a big sign with Senator Boxer's face in the cross hairs -- the conservatives are gunning for her this time around.
Members of Get Equal challenged Obama in the middle of his speech to deal with the repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell. Obama encouraged the protesters to target those politicians who don't already support a repeal of the gay military ban.
The thing is, as much as we dislike Obama and his wishy washy approach to gay rights advocacy, we love Senator Boxer. Boxer has, when it comes to gay rights, been a staunch supporter of equality. She received a 100% rating from the Human Rights Campaign, spoken out about gay rights and actually is one of the few politicians to support gay marriage. She is a liberal activist politician in a landscape of conservative values and inaction on both sides of the aisle. She is exactly the kind of candidate we, as a community, should support.
Instead, we decided that a fundraiser where Obama (read, not much of an advocate for gay rights) was doing his best to support Boxer was a perfect opportunity to highlight the President's inaction on LGBT issues. This, when Boxer is praying patrons open their checkbooks and cough up a bit more money for her campaign. It doesn't mean that the hecklers weren't right in their criticism, Obama is hugely problematic when it comes to equality advocacy, but they needed to choose a different time to engage in that discussion.
The night is over and we can only hope that Boxer got some of the funds she needs out of the event. Still, I hope that the people from Get Equal choose a more opportune moment to engage in protest. In the mean time, if they are serious about equality perhaps they should spend time raising a few dollars for Senator Boxer and her progressive agenda.
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We're not racist, we're not violent. Just no longer silent.
Those who are more interested in truth and justice than in power and priviledge should keep heckling him.
This may very well be necessary for our collective wellbeing and even for President Obama's success.
Old methods of popular manipulation are coming apart. A politician talking out of both sides of his mouth is likely to be shown as dishonest quickly.
Being caught being dishonest hurts a politician's prospects with the group that sees itself as treated unjustly.
As more and more people loose faith that their representatives are actually working for their interests rather than the interests of some priviledged group the prospects of popular upheaval grow.
People say, "throw the bums out - baby and bathwater together - whatever it takes."
The way things stand now, that might very well mean a takeover by the lunatic right wing - which is even more about priviledge and power (but mobs are about action not thought).
Better we change the values of our leadership than face a popular uprising against the dishonesty of our leadership.
Heckling the president in this case is about proding him to value truth and justice over power and priviledge.
It's a good thing.
After promising transparency, Obama did a 180-degree turn, and has adopted the worst aspects of the Bush administration's tight control over information and media manipulation.
If you are for the things that the hecklers are for (gay rights), then you should be supporting them and questioning why Obama isn't ending DADT with an executive order. If you believe that it's because he wants Congress to do it with legislation, then you have to wonder why Obama pressured Congressman Alcee Hastings to withdraw his legislation doing it - http://thinkprogress.org/2009/07/30/hastings-dadt-white-house/
Republicans won't look at this and think 'well, we'd better do something for the gay community to solidify some support from them'...they'll look at it as a rejection of EVERY part of the "Obama agenda", which includes promises made to the LGBT community.
And the democrats left in office won't move further to the left, they'll probably go more to the right...hell, we've seen it already. We need to keep up the pressure (I liked the idea of gay vets chaining themselves to the WH), but to not vote will send a message, but I fear that message will ultimately be to our detriment, as NO ONE will be able to do anything about the message we've sent by sitting home.
We need to kick it off on ALL fronts.
Now, I have stopped giving to a lot of politicians, as I want to see more results before I continue to dole out money to them...but they still have my vote...just not my monetary support (yet).
I do think that focusing more energy on statewide issues, like prop 8 for instance, would be to our benefit however...maybe that's where our money should go.
King's letter is a response to a statement made by eight white Alabama clergymen on April 12, 1963, titled "A Call For Unity". The clergymen agreed that social injustices existed but argued that the battle against racial segregation should be fought solely in the courts, not in the streets. King responded that without nonviolent forceful direct actions such as his, true civil rights could never be achieved.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letter_from_Birmingham_Jail
And why should Progressives donate to "Senator Boxer and her progressive agenda" when she, as a Democrat, will extend a portion of those funds to help elect Conservative Democrats who oppose progressive agendas.
The message of this event was simple: if Democratic leaders don't want to be protested by their base, then they should stop stabbing that base in the back.
You need to vote for a specific candidate that you know about and be deliberate. Why risk voting against your interests because the person most in your corner is imperfect?
If you think that Obama and Boxer are stabbing you in the back you have never felt the stab of the political knife.
It would be nice to see these people concerned about foreign policy, our military, the war on terror, and all the work done to fight evil around the globe. But they only care about the military as it pertains to their own cause.
LOL
he sounded like a middle school bully in the playground surrounded by his security guys jees, what an embarrassment this country has in the white house.
Have a nice day. :)
http://www.soulfoodministry.org/docs/English/NotASin.htm
http://www.jesus21.com/content/sex/bible_homosexuality_print.html
http://www.christchapel.com/reclaiming.html
http://www.stjohnsmcc.org/new/BibleAbuse/BiblicalReferences.php
http://www.gaychristian101.com/
Thats why Jesus never mentions it as well. There is nothing immoral, wrong, or sinful about being gay. Jesus, however, clearly states he HATES hypocrites. If you preach goodness, then promote hate and twist the words of the Bible, you are a hypocrite. Homosexuals will not go to hell, hypocrites will.
This is very similar to the religious bigots of the past, where they took Bible passages to condone slavery, keep women down, and used Bible passages to claim blacks as curses who should be enslaved by the white man. People used God to claim that blacks marrying whites was unnatural, and not of God's will.
Obama is responsible for fulfilling his promises and he asked us to hold him accountable. Get Equal did the right thing and hopefully they will continue to challenge President Obama when his actions don't live up to his commitments.
We will no longer fund gay White House fan clubs like HRC who are willing to throw away our rights for a cocktail party with the President and a $400,000 salary to keep Joe Solmonese in italian suits. We need organizations willing to speak up and fight for our rights and Get Equal fits the bill.
Use it or lose it DEMS. We can sit at home in the next election. See how you fare without the Gay Community's vote.
and the people who wanted prosecution of obvious war crimes,
and the people who don't like warrantless wiretaps,
and the people who want reasonable pharma pricing,
and the people who oppose R/C drone attacks that slaughter non-combatants,
and all the rest of those malcontents who donated to your campaign, got out your vote, and voted for you themselves.
Go ahead, tick them off. Helluva job, biznesschic!
Try to push it any faster than that, and you will get a backlash what will set you back even farther.
You'll get farther, faster if you accept your ally's limitations...and work WITH them...than railing agaisnt them.
It is this sort of "My Way or the Highway" mentality by the GOP base that has turned them into a minority party...and deprived them of the ability to do anything in Washington other than to just try to BREAK the system.
If the Bush years taught us nothing else, it's that anyone can sell anything to Americans, if you're stolid & relentless in your sales pitch & tactics. It's not that Bush&R0ve were geniuses & knew something that nobody else knew; Bush&R0ve were just more ruthless (clumsy & careless many political graybeards would say) in doing what politicians & the parties had gone to great lengths to hide from Americans.
Obama didn't get to be the first black president, vanquish the Clinton machine (by getting the DemocraticParty's nomination) & the oldest, most experienced politicians in our nation's history (including the Rove machine) by not having mastered these skills. Nor do Democratic politicians (more incumbents than ever, in office longer) not know how to do it. How do you think Democrats managed to keep the impeachment of Bush&Cheney off the table & have us still reelecting them, not marching on Washington with torches&pitchforks?
Obama&Democrats know how to do it -- They don't want to do it.
The trick for them has been to keep the many different populist groups believing that they really do support our issues, but that they're merely inept. And to get us to keep voting for them in spite of their failure to deliver on any of our alleged shared objectives.
If you don't know who or what the DLC is, look it up.
I think this line summed it it up nicely. Of course they will seem inept if they never put up a fight in the first place. It seems they are more interested in excuses.
What did Boxer do the entire 8 years of the BushAdministration? She effectively went on sabbatical. She wrote murder mysteries ("Something I always wanted to do, if I ever had the time"). She, of course, took her senatorial salary all those years.
As a member of Congress, you can't just be for or against something (like abortion) when it comes up for a vote. You have to be meticulous & actively work to set up the conditions surrounding your vote, to make sure it counts. Your 'yes' vote means nothing if there are more 'no' votes to cancel your vote/voice out. Boxer's ineffectiveness in Congress has enabled the anti-choice movement to chip away at a woman's right to choose, so much so that while it's still legal to get an abortion, it's d@mned near impossible to find any place to get one. 87% of counties in the US are without abortion services.
Boxer's support of JoeLieberman in 2006 exposed Boxer's very 'conditional' support of a woman's right to choose (& her general level of ignorance)
http://firedoglake.com/2006/07/24/the-boxer-meltdown/
http://articles.sfgate.com/2003-05-11/bay-area/17489097_1_casino-development-indian-casinos-southern-sonoma-county-pomos
http://www.cfspm.org/files/QuickSiteImages/Jackpot_-_A_short_history_of_Bay_Area_Gaming_Efforts_and_Influencers.doc
It's time for Boxer to go & active, committed REAL liberals need to take over.