Kennedy/Obama: Does the Dream Live On?

In his dramatic "The Dream Lives On" speech at the 2008 Democratic National Convention, Senator Edward Kennedy promised his party and his nation that "Barack Obama will close the book on race, gender, group against group, and straight against gay," a line that brought forth both cheers and tears of hope from the delegates.

It was no surprise that Senator Kennedy highlighted the issue of "straight against gay," because he was, in the words of Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest gay rights group, the "strongest voice in the United States Senate for the LGBT community."

In celebrating the "transformative impact" of Ted Kennedy's commitment to guaranteeing equality without regard to an individual's sexual orientation, Jarrett Barrios, the incoming president of GLAAD, the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, observed that Kennedy's unflagging support over the years had "helped change hearts and minds about LGBT equality," both in the Senate and throughout the nation.

Kennedy was an early advocate for AIDS research and treatment, securing federal funding so patients could have easier access to experimental drugs and both in-home and outpatient medical care. In 1996, he was one of only 14 senators who voted against the Defense of Marriage Act, which bars the federal government from recognizing same-sex unions that have been authorized by the states. Kennedy condemned the legislation as a "mean-spirited" effort "to divide Americans." It "deserves to be rejected," he declared, "by all those who deplore ... intolerance."

Ted Kennedy was also a leading supporter of same-sex marriage in his home state of Massachusetts, which was the first state in the nation to legalize same-sex marriage in 2004. In recognition of the Massachusetts Supreme Court's decision holding the denial of same-sex marriage unconstitutional, Senator Kennedy proudly proclaimed that "the nation's eyes were on Massachusetts today, and they saw a triumph for civil rights and fundamental fairness."

Senator Kennedy also championed the effort in Congress to add sexual orientation and gender identity to federal hate crimes and employment discrimination laws. In 2002, he was one of the leading sponsors of the Matthew Shepard Act on hate crimes, and in 1996 he authored the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), which would have barred discrimination in the workplace on the basis of sexual orientation.

In co-sponsoring ENDA again this year, Kennedy said: "Ensuring equality for all Americans is the least we can do in living up to the standards of inclusion that this nation is built upon. There is no place for discrimination against any of our citizens for whatever reason." It is our duty, he declared, "to champion equal rights for every American."

David Wilson, a gay African-American who was one of the plaintiffs in the Massachusetts same-sex marriage litigation, described Kennedy as a "beacon of hope" in his unswerving support of gay rights and as the "bridge from the civil rights movement of the 1960s" to the gay rights movement" of today.

Kennedy saw clearly the moral, social, legal and historical connections between the struggles to accord "equal protection of the laws" to African-Americans, women and gays. In his view, these struggles are all part of a single whole, arising out of the fundamental responsibility of Americans to put aside prejudice and ignorance and to act upon what Lincoln called "the better angels of our nature."

In his lyrical eulogy to Senator Kennedy, President Obama celebrated Kennedy's "life's work" -- "to give a voice to those who were not heard; to add a rung to the ladder of opportunity; to make real the dream of our founding." In passing, the president made reference to Kennedy's strong commitment to the cause of gay rights, noting that Kennedy was "alive to the plight and suffering of others -- the sick child who could not see a doctor; the young soldier sent to battle without armor; the citizen denied her rights because of what she looks like or who she loves."

There is much talk now about carrying out the legacy of Ted Kennedy. President Obama is well positioned to fulfill Kennedy's dream of equal rights regardless of sexual orientation. Certainly, the president shares Kennedy's vision. Only a few years ago, as a candidate for United States senator from Illinois, Mr. Obama announced that, as "an African-American man" and "a child of an interracial marriage," I have "taken on the issue of civil rights for the LGBT community as if they were my own struggle because I believe strongly that the infringement of rights for any one group eventually endangers the rights enjoyed under law by the entire population."

Mr. Obama proclaimed that he had worked for more than a decade "to expand civil liberties for the LGBT community including hate-crimes legislation, adoption rights and the extension of basic civil rights to protect LGBT persons from discrimination in housing, public accommodations, employment and credit," and promised that he would continue to "be an unapologetic voice for civil rights."

Now is the time for President Obama to fulfill that promise. In memory of Senator Kennedy, and in the name of simple justice, he should call upon Congress to enact the Employment Non-Discrimination Act and the Matthew Shepard National Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act, and to repeal the military's discriminatory "don't ask, don't tell" policy (under which gay members of the military continue to be discharged) and the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, which he himself once rightly described as "abhorrent."

Mr. Obama has many reasons not to take this on. He is trying to right the economy, to enact health care reform, to keep the nation safe against terrorists, and to strengthen our position internationally. But when profound moral issues are at stake, our greatest presidents do not waver. In 1863, Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation in the midst of our nation's bloodiest conflict and despite widespread and often bitter opposition. In 1948, Harry Truman ordered the desegregation of the military only three months before a hotly-contested presidential election that was then too close to call. Sometimes "change we can believe in" requires the courage to take risks.

A passage in the president's eulogy for Senator Kennedy seems especially poignant in this regard: "We cannot know for certain how long we have here. We cannot foresee the trials or misfortunes that will test us along the way. . . We can use each day to . . . treat others with the kindness and respect that we wish for ourselves. . . . And we can strive at all costs to make a better world, so that someday, if we are blessed with the chance to look back on our time here, we can know that we spent it well; that we made a difference; that our fleeting presence had a lasting impact on the lives of other human beings." Ted Kennedy could not have said it better.

 

 

Comments

[vanmungo]

Let's examine some of the facts behind the dream.

Ted Kennedy was a firm supporter of WTO/NAFTA, which has led to the rapid deindustrialization of the United States.

He voted to confirm Scalia and Roberts.

He voted for the repeal of Glass-Steagall, which turned commercial banks into gambling casinos and led directly to the current financial/housing meltdown.

Throughout the 1980s and 1990s he was an ardent supporter of corporate dereguation of the kind that has led us into the currrent mess and undermined the labor movement in the airline and trucking industries.

He cosponsored "No Child Left Behind," which has converted large swaths of the educational system into an arid testing treadmill.

Despite his initial opposition to the war in Iraq, he has repeatedly failed to oppose funding it, along with the one in Afghanistan (and reliably ratified the bloated military budget).

He sat back passively as EFCA was devoured by corporate lobbying.

In the end, he cast his lot with the defeatists on health care who scuttled the only serious, proven reform--Medicare for all--in favor of a shriveled, impotent, lobbyist-friendly version of the "public option."

For the full story, read, "Ted Kennedy, The Hollow Champion," by the noted left journalist Alexander Cockburn:

http://www.counterpunch.org/cockburn08282009.html

Here you will find truths that lie too deep for tears.

[ultrabop]

Thank you. The sad truth.

[ThePeacemakers]

Mr. Stone,
You're saying O should take the moral high ground.
He would be untouchable up that high, but he doesn't have the courage of his convictions (well, what were assumed to be his convictions.)

[DaleSwingle]

Obama has a simple choice to make, tack hard to starboard to save his priesidency as Clinton did after a diasterous first year or adhere to his current agenda and be cast out of office years with approval ratings lower than Bush's. Obama has overplayed his hand and seriously misread the will of the American people and is on the precipice of losing them forever..

[ultrabop]

don't you mean "port?" He's already on the starboard tack.

[aleather]

Thanks Prof. Stone, I really enjoyed your HuffPo article and appreciated your call for bolder action from Pres. Obama. I've been grateful for Pres. Obama's words of support for the LGBT community but have been less impressed by his actions, which have been quite cautious up to this point (the appointment of gays to minor positions, the extension of partial but not full benefits to gay partners of federal employees, etc.) I've interpreted Pres. Obama's approach so far as gradualism. Since, as your article points out, he tends to think of the struggle for LGBT equality as analogous to the movement for equality for African-Americans and interracial couples, perhaps it would be helpful for LGBT advocates to start using the language of the civil-rights movement to urge Pres. Obama to take bolder action. In particular, I am reminded of Martin Luther King's exhortation in his "I Have a Dream" speech that the country not to fall prey to the "tranquilizing drug of gradualism," which I fear Pres. Obama currently may be under the spell of.

[pm247]

Let's focus on getting a true, PROVEN progressive elected next time.

Not necessarily a Ted Kennedy liberal, but someone committed to ending corporate lobbying. Who will stop the looting of the Treasury by Wall Street and the military-industrial compost. Who will push for single payer to end health insurance racketeering. Someone who will resurrect the progressive income tax as during the Eisenhower/JFK era.

I don't know of anyone better and more electable than Howard Dean. He would be the closest thing to a Kennedy in the White House we can hope for.

[1dogs2]

Unlike HST, who had no law on the books prescribing segregated armed services, President Obama has DADT and DOMA to contend with. Unlike HST, Obama cannot constitutionally issue an executive order to effect the desired changes. He has, however, repeatedly urged Congress to make those and other changes necessary to extend full civil rights to the LGBT community. The President HAS taken on this battle. It's not clear to me what more Prof. Stone would have him do at this juncture, particularly when HCR and climate change legislation hang in the balance -- issues that affect every American and the very survival of the planet -- and the political climate is as ugly as I've ever seen it.

[discreeta]

Thanks once again, Professor Stone. Our president likes to include oblique references to gay rights in his lofty rhetoric, but he doesn't seem likely to back them up with action. He is an avowed opponen of gay marriage, based, it seems, on his religious beliefs...­..somethin­g that Ted Kennedy' seemed to have been able to get beyond in understanding the division between church and state. Also, Obama seems disinclined to take any real action on "Don't ask, don't tell" while hundreds of qualified and educated man and women have continued to be expelled from the military under his watch as Commander in Chief. That he doesn't seem to equate gay rights with civil rights is frustrating and truly disheartening.

[ClarcKing]

The dream is always under tremendous pressure. At this moment no one in the administration is dealing with the monetary financial derivative debt based economic nation state killing machine. We are too busy bailing out a defeated/bankrupt enemy by pouring trillions of dollars into the casino market. I do not see a commitment to civil rights or to the right to live in the current economic crisis. If the U.S. does not implement economy formation measures the U.S. economy will stop functioning in less than 60 days. Let's all work on this.

[brooklyncitizen]

So far the dream has morphed into a bit of a nightmare.

[highplainsdrifter]

It has for a large majority of citizens that actually WORK and make this country run. They are starting to figure out the tyrannical aspirations of Obama and the real impact they will have on their lives. All major polls now show Obama approval at less than 50% and plummeting, with the latest Rasmussen poll at 46%.

[brooklyncitizen]

Actually you are really off-base and doing some good old fashioned fear-mongering.

The Dream has become a nightmare becauise the issues that we PROGRESSIVES clamored for are being ignored, not because of the " tyrannical aspirations of Obama". That is ridiculous .

We just barely survived the tyrannical aspirations of George Bush and are still living through those consequences.

As for your comment on "citizens that actually work" thanks to failed economic (non) policies of of Bush Crime Inc. we have rampant unemployment that put many people out of WORK. In short, their tyrannical aspirations cost us jobs, homes, financial stability, access to quality education and our very lives by sending people to their deaths in an illegal war.

How's that for tyrannical aspirations?

[ultrabop]

I think tyrannical is the wrong word. How about pussyfooting around while the house burns down?

[sciphy]

The nightmare would have been engulfing all of us had McCain/Palin won. Hope would have been extinguished. Really, quit whining and consider what could have been. Pull yourselves up, dust yourselves off and work for what you believe in. Yes, the dream does live on. Obama/Biden 2012.

[mergina]

Yet to be determined, but don't hold your breath.

[Dem4Lyfe]

Trust me, if I was holding my breath, I would certainly be dead by now.

[Jamie Gardner]

In the United States alone, over 415,000 men answered the call, fought and DIED for causes of equal importance during World War II. I assume that you haven't forgotten the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was written in the aftermath of that war, so that their sacrifices would be remembered and that dream would live on.

Obama called upon us to stand with him and see our dreams come to fruition through shared sacrifice, unity and a sense of purpose. Many people answered that call. You have not.

D-Day was a success because the men who landed on the beach answered the call to fight and followed through. They didn't stop to argue with their commanders when the bullets started flying and their friends started dying. They didn't duck behind cover worrying about whether Monty had sent enough boats to finish the job. They united around the common goal of defeating a determined and formidable enemy against insurmountable odds and intense opposition, and they won. We can do the same. You need to have faith, steady your rifle (figuratively, of course), and keep moving forward.

[highplainsdrifter]

Comparing Obama to the commanders on D-day is quite a stretch isnt it? The idea that we should all blindly follow a politician is absurd....but I am sure you felt the same way when Bush was president.­.....right­?

[ultrabop]

I would follow him if he was leading us somewhere. He's following George W. Bush's scent. He's hot on the trail going nowhere.

[Trittydi]

It's an insult to Senator Kennedy to compare Obama to him.
*

[YewNeekId]

I agree. Ted Kennedy greatly misjudged Obama, as did I.

[OldPirate]

I think (hope) there is still the possibilty that the Senators death will shake Obama awake and re-invigorate him to try to live up to that comparision.

I also think that if it does not, Joe Biden will not stay with the Whitehouse.

[Trittydi]

No. Ted Kennedy would not have sold the American people down the river on Health Care Reform by cutting deals with the pharmaceuticals - or by his lack of support for a Single Payer system - or by his non-support for the vastly inferior Public Option.

Senator Edward Kennedy was a true liberal and progressive. Obama doesn't even pretend to be - and now he has betrayed his campaign promise of ending business as usual with the pharmaceuticals.
*

[TN60]

Just where do you get that Obama has "sold us down the river" or has "cut deals with big Pharma behind our backs""?

There are 5 Bills floating around the House and the Senate. So far, the President has not said what he supports, so how can you speak with such matter of fact statements?

[OldPirate]

fact is, an 80 billion dollar deal was struck with big pharma a couple of weeks ago, the details of which the Whitehouse has yet to release.

[highplainsdrifter]

Uh....you need to get out more:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/13/internal-memo-confirms-bi_n_258285.html

[YewNeekId]

Read the news.

Obama did a sleazy backroom deal with Pharma where they promise 8billion in savings over ten years if Obama protected them from price negotiation. If the US was allowed to negotiate prices the way that Can'ada is allowed to negotiate, the people would save 160billion per year.

That's a sellout in my book

[ckdogs]

Let's not be so hard on Mr. Obama. Teddy wasn't president, and as a Senator, could be the gadfly, and conscience, of the nation. Obama became president at one of the low points in our country's history. He faced two wars, and an economic meltdown, the likes of which has happened only once before in our history. He had a huge agenda to move this country forward - but before he could even start - he had to stabilize banks, and bail out the auto industry. He had to spend trillions of dollars, shoring up that deep hole in our economy, before he could even think about health care, gay rights, foreign policy, et. al. So after 7 mos., every interest group is screaming that their little issue has not been addressed. For heaven's sake - your bank hasn't failed; your savings are still intact, and there are no bread lines, as yet.
The dream will live on with Obama. But he isn't superman. He can't do everything at a single bound, and he can't make everyone happy at the same time. We "progressives" should stay behind him 100%, instead of nitpicking. And the Dems in Congress should show some spine, and fight for the health care bill that would make Teddy proud.

[mikefina]

Yeah, Progressives.

Keep your nitpicky civil rights agenda to yourself. He's got multi-national, tax-evading banks to bail out.

Sheesh.

[Darr247]

Earth to mikefina... the republicans and Bush/Cheney bailed out the banks last fall while they still had control. Not to mention Bush-appointee Paulson sold us all a bill of goods about how the bailout money would be spent on buying bad assets, then turned around and just gave it to the banks to spend however they wanted (which was on buying up smaller banks and $100's of millions in bonuses, of course). The (R)'s have a lot of balls accusing the (D)'s of running up deficits when the (R)'s added almost a trillion dollars per year to the national debt from 2003-2009 (it took them 2-years + 9/11 to outspend the surpluses Clinton had left them).

[diak0n0s]

Right you are.

[Kalamama]

To those of you who are already writing off our POTUS who has been in office only 7 months, I suggest to all of you to read ckdogs post. FANNED & FAVD

Couldn't say it better myself. Obama can't do it all at once let alone in less than a year. He has said from the beginning....WE ( as in not him alone ) will make change happen. To those of you who are content to just sit back and bit ch....try doing something to help starting with a reformed health care system. Instead of posting here, e-mail your senators and congresspeople. Get involved and help the dream stay alive.

[Trittydi]

When he does something right I'll back him. Until then - I'm just another pissed progressive.
*

[YewNeekId]

There are still 25% of the people who think that Bush was a swell president also.

I used to be angry that Obama was on vacation all the time. I'm starting to think that it's a good idea to get him out of town more often so that a true leader can emerge.

[jefke]

"He can't do everything in a single bound, and he can't make everyone happy at the same time."
You really need to remove the pink glasses; the only people he's made happy are the bankers, Wall Street, the insurance companies and Big Pharma. And, maybe, just maybe, it's because that's what he wants to do. A pretty speech is just a pretty speech.

www.anamericaninbrussels.com

[1dogs2]

Those with children who are now covered by health insurance, women who expect to receive equal pay for equal work, those appalled by the existence of Guantanamo and torture as the official policy of their government are among those who are happier than they were seven months ago. And bankers, Wall Street, big Pharma and the insurance companies are among those presently in a panic lest the President succeed in re-regulating them and moderating the power and wealth they have steadily accumulated over the past decades.

Lefties who viciously attack the President, as opposed to working constructively to urge and help effectuate the best achievable solutions to the nation's intractable and complex problems, are no better than the perennial Kennedy haters who live in blissful ignorance of how much Sen. Kennedy did to make their own lives better.

[1dogs2]

You make an excellent point about the difference between what a brilliant, committed Senator can accomplish and what a president can do, particularly at a low point in our national politics, with media that would be only too happy to exacerbate those politics with a full-throated renewal of the culture wars. a left-wing that has already written off the President after seven months in office with vicious attacks on his character and intentions, and a right-wing that openly threatens his life and foments violence against the government and private citizens whose views they oppose.

[TN60]

I had not read your post until now and I want to tell you that you got everything 100% right and I agree with everything you said. Thank you for taking the time and for pointing these thing out to me and to others.

Of Course, with me, you are preaching to the choir LOL..but I appreciate reading your post.