When Dick Cheeeney was asked why he had not served in Vietnam, he harrumphed that he "had other priorities in the '60s than military service." Like applying for six deferments.
Side note: come to find out, the very long E in "Cheeeney" is the family's preferred pronunciation of their surname. The ubiquitous-as-homemade sin, Liz Cheeeney announced this top-secret fact on a morning show, and now Chris Matthews has dropped the long A in Chaney and cheeses out Cheeeney whenever he can. I just thought he was being sarcastic. I won't tell you how my household still says the name.
But forty years after the 60s, prioritizing is still a problem.
As much as I was fully prepared to be disappointed in the Obama administration, I am surprised by my disappointment. They seem to have other priorities than full civil rights for LGBT people.
And heck I know Obama has a lot going on -- health care, the economy, two wars. I'm not one of those old coot guys complaining that Obama's trying to do too much. I think they're just jealous of his energy. In fact, under the federal radar, many things are changing at the agency level. The US Census will now count married gay Americans. The Employment Non-Discrimination Act, now unrecognizable from its early iteration, creeps through committee. Hate Crimes legislation moves forward.
After an LGBT firestorm greeted the Justice Department's review of the Defense of Marriage Act with its concluding argument that put gay marriage in the same paragraph as pedophilia and incest, the White House quickly announced domestic partnership benefits for some federal employees. Coinky-dink? Ya think?
It was perhaps symbolic that the photo op of Obama signing the memorandum entitling federal employees to the equivalent of a gift certificate to the early bird special at The Olive Garden in Bethesda [one time only!] seemed to chop off the heads of the gay leaders present behind him. Awkward.
In our house, we often wonder if Obama has any gay advisors close to him on staff. The fact of the matter is two thirds of the Obama administration is former Clinton staffers. They are still traumatized by the early hijacking of their administration by the issue of gays in the military. I've always thought when the history of that moment is written, it will be revealed that some Republican mole was in the crowd whenever Clinton jogged on the mall or stopped in at McDonalds and would shout "What about gays in the military?" Finally Clinton just offhanded something off-message and undisciplined like "yeah, we'll look into it" and off the rails we went.
The Clinton people in the Obama administration still seethe when they recall the day Clinton's OMB was announcing exciting details of their new budget to an empty room because the press was over covering cranky little Sen. Sam Nunn giving his report on the difficulty of humping in confined quarters on submarines. Mind your head! The disastrously chicken Don't Ask Don't Tell non-solution became the cynical mantra of the next sixteen years.
I don't really want to hear how naïve I am in the ways of politics. Save it. I have grown up a lot in the sixteen years since the Clinton years. So has the gay movement. So has America. It's time for the Obama administration to gut check their priorities.
Beware the backlash, baby.
I do think you need to be somewhat more patient. The Emancipation Proclamation took a little while to get into gear as well.
Basically, you have a bunch of far-right terriers yapping and nipping at his heels with every move the President makes. I think they are your real impediments, not Obama.
He needs to tread carefully. While I believe that he knows your cause to be laudable, I just cannot imagine him engaging and fighting them over this issue right now, as opposed to all the other "treading on their paws" stuff that he is doing now.
When he is ready to do so, I expect him to put as much energy and effort in making it happen as he is doing now with health care.
Very well, then You're very naive in the ways of politics.
Just kidding.
But seriously, I think you're right that the Obama administration seems disturbingly distant on issues in terms of advancing gay rights. Admittedly, when Obama reaffirmed his commitment during the campaign trail that he conceived of marriage as strictly a union between a man and a woman, many of us assumed that he was essentially playing "under the radar" in effort to elude political controversy.
Now that the advancement of gay marriage and repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell seems to be gathering momentum all across the country and more and more people seem receptive to the idea, the question remains as to why the white house has reinforced DOMA while sitting idle as more and more gay servicemen and women continue to be discharged.
Perhaps, we may be obligated to come to terms with what we dread, in that Obama's campaign promises about marriage may have indeed pertained to his actual beliefs.
Civil Rights organize around getting married does nothing for me. I want people to STOP getting married. Its an oppressive institution and a social construct. What about those of us who dont want to get married and get punished because we chose to live with a parent that we can't put on our health insurance because they are not a spouse or a child.
I wish folks would stop elevating the instution of marriage its a joke. If you want to fight for Civil rights I suppport you 100% but dont base it on simply the right to get married and expect us to say well you know its a Civil Rights issue. You are making it worse for people like me who dont care about marriage who thinks its an institution that has outlived its uselfulness assuming it ever was of course.
When you fight to recongize ALL kinds of family then I'll happily join the fight.
If you want information about what the Prez has been doing try looking up the LGBT Proclamation as it lists some recent actions.
Now, I'm feeling like Mrs. Vitter, Mrs. Craig, Mrs. Ensign, or Mrs. Sanford -- trusting "our man" is something we need but it will take a lot of work to regain trust!!!!
DADT and DOMA passed under Clinton.
Obama is not responsible for your disappointments regarding past Presidents.
You are disillusioned after 5 months? How grossly immature.
"...after months? How grossly immature."
Looks like he's planning on being a one term president.
Healthcare reform should be his #1 thru #10 priority. 47 million Americans who lack health care is a crisis.
Seems to me that you were wanting to be disappointed so that you could have the pleasure of being angry at another Black man.
5 months have passed and you claim to be disappointed? Grow up, for God's sake.