Obama and McClurkin: Don't Care

With all the ruckus about Barack Obama's cozying up to Donnie McClurkin, the gospel singer notoriously ignorant about the possibility of curing homosexuality, you'd think that none of the Democratic candidates have been pandering to the homophobic vote from the day they started running. More precisely, they have all been walking that tight-rope they hate so much between throwing a bone to the gays (and the LBTs) while not scaring off ostensibly straight voters.

In this game, all candidates have been associated with homophobes. For instance, Hillary Clinton recently trumpeted her friendship with Harold Mayberry, of the First African Methodist Church in Oakland; her press release on the meeting/endorsement left out the fact that Mayberry believes homosexuality to be comparable to thievery.

This campaigning compartmentalization has lead to the absurdity of Democrats rediscovering the value of states' rights, after the brief 1960s folly of empowering the federal government to have a say in the minor matter of local civil rights; segregationist Democratic party greats such as George Wallace would feel vindicated. The irony is thick: Democrats can't get enough of the federal government regulating every aspect of our lives, except on the one issue of same-sex marriage.

More bluntly, the leading Democratic candidates' stance on same-sex marriage is in itself homophobic, although I don't completely blame Clinton, Obama or John Edwards (actually, him I do blame for being a coward and trying to have it both ways by hiding behind both his faith and his wife). They are making a political calculation, and it is their right to do so; it is for the rest of us to show that calculation to be increasingly flawed.

His association with a fool like McClurkin notwithstanding, Obama easily remains the most convincing on the issue of gay rights. He is by far the most comfortably eloquent on the subject, and he is right when he says that he is the only candidate who has brought the fight to some of its toughest frontiers. Clinton, Ms. DOMA, is fine in front of a Human Rights Campaign audience, but, as with everything else, overly cautious elsewhere. As for Edwards, his stated "struggle" on the issue of gay marriage is not exactly inspiring, especially coming from Mr. Slick on every other topic. And, of course, we love Dennis Kucinich, but we are not going there.

Follow Paul Jenkins on Twitter: www.twitter.com/PaulcJenkins

Comments

[nypoet22]

It's funny how there is this idea that politicians need to be perfect and wonderful in every way in order to do a good job and make real progress. Those who believe that sort of hype about ANY politician are usually naive or deluding themselves. All great individuals have had flaws borne of the times they lived in and the reality of their world. Jefferson owned slaves. Lincoln advocated racism. Obama's political compromises on sensitive issues are not huge, and are probably necessary to accomplishing positive goals in today's society. I'm sure they are far from his only imperfections, but that hardly makes him a hypocrite.

Clinton's positions in recent years are so calculated I think she might do more harm than good. Kucinich's ideas are wonderful, but today's political environment makes it nigh on impossible for him to pass the sort of legislation he advocates, much less get elected president. I support Obama not only because of his words but also because he has shown he can make the compromises necessary to get positive, tangible results.

[twocrows]

agreed, nypoet--
Obama is a complex human being with lots of dimensions.
or do we want to continue with a 2 dimensional 'you're either with us or you're with the enemy du jour', 'my way or the highway' candidate?

we can all see where that mentality has landed us.

[KRANKY]

Why are not you "going there" with Dennis Kucinich? The one candidate that does not parse words, that says "equality" is what it means...

Fools and masochists. You will not stand up for yourselves and support the ONE candidate that supports you.

PATHETIC!

[linkunlovr]

Really the idea that "we love Dennis Kucinich" but are not going there is precisely why we are always left with the lesser of two evils. Obama is for the death penalty, forced health insurance as a payoff to his insurance lobby contributors and he can't even guarantee we'll be out of Iraq by 2013!!!
America very rarely has a candidate with the integrity, wisdom and vision of a Kucinich and the reason is people like you who love his views but think they are in a horse race and want to go with the odds.So they end up following sheep-like the "annointed top tier" candidates and choose between them thinking they have made a choice.If you don't go for the person who espouses your hopes and dreams why are you involved in the process?

[Kendo Nagasaki]

I would agree that a vote for Hillary or Obama means a continuation of the Bush policies.

America really does need a drastic change of direction. Lots of people are being fooled by the Hillary Travelling Circus.

[neoconjob]

hear, hear. i'm up to here with the "throw your vote away" rhetoric of the mainstreamed conformists. If you're voting in the Rethug primary, vote Paul; if you're voting in the Dumbocrat primary, vote Kucinich (or Gravel, but he's pretty much a lost cause at this point). Make your vote count by voting FOR a good candidate, instead of continually voting strategically AGAINST the crappier ones.

[itmaybetoolate]

Why not visit Bob Jones University? Why not reach out to the evangelical right who are desperate for a candidate? I guess you would also be happy for him to associate with someone who is anti-abortion, anti-woman, anti-immigrant, anti-etc.? Which anti-group crosses the line for you? Talking out of both sides of his mouth doesn't cut it. He wants that anti-gay black vote and he is going after it. Gay people who support him after this are expressing their own internalized homophobia.

[neoconjob]

sometimes life really is as simplistic as it seems...

[klondiker]

I love how Obama supporters can justify and forgive ANY thing he does. Yet, if it were Hillary in this position, there would be an outraged outcry.

You still want to support Obama, even after he will share the platform with a notorious homophobe? Fine, go right ahead. But, don't pretend that Obama's some great pro-gay candidate. Don't piss on my head and tell me it's raining.

And, by the way, the best candidate on gay rights is Dennis Kucinich.

[KRANKY]

"And, by the way, the best candidate on gay rights is Dennis Kucinich."

YES, and that is because the best candidate for human rights, for ANY rights is
Dennis Kucinich!

Vote for REASON
Vote for sanity
VOTE FOR YOURSELVES!

KUCINICH/2008

[likwitfaded]

It is Hillary in this position as well, yet you haven't heard anything about that from anybody. Everybody has prejudices, its the country we live in and human nature, but any candidate that can work to unite this country is someone that will get my vote.

[Kendo Nagasaki]

How do you propose to unite the corporations that now run the country with the vast majority of the lectorate?

I would suggest we need to return power to the people.

[LarryMcD]

You aren't hearing as much about Hillary because so many gays still have burn scars from her husband that we expect it from her. Only the most establishment types like Barney "Less Than" Frank and HRC are profound Hil fans, most of the rest of the community is divided like the rest of the party.

The problem for those of us who sent Obama money and pinned our hopes is that we believed the talk without checking the walk... now he's walkin' and so are we - in the other direction.

[JohnJames]

He might be eloquent on the subject of gay rights when he has a prepared speech but Obama looked decidedly uncomfortable and hesistant talking about it when he appeared on Larry King. I've doubted his sincerity ever since. Furthermore, though I condemn it, there is a difference between Clinton's association with a run-of-the mill homophobic preacher and Obama's association with a man whose turned being a so-called ex-gay into a lucrative career based on persecuting gay people.

[Jane22]

If we could learn to stop playing this election "game" the old-style way??, perhaps it would be safe for all candidates to acknowledge that all human beings have the right to be who they are becoming? This issue is not the Gov't's business! The govt's business is to pass 1 law that guarantees ALL, ALL, ALL citizen's the SAME, SAME, SAME RIGHTS! I like Obama, but he is out of his league (They (all who play in lying) are sooo dirty). Without election reform and the move to an open, honest, citizen-funded (much cheaper) process, this posturing for maximum $$$, support will not end! PERIOD! Dennis Kucinich is the one I would vote for today. He articulates my views the best. Would like to see (again) World Peace be the agenda were we to get to cleaning up this MESS! Put all Republican­s/liked-mi­nded confused folks in special schools to re-educate them! I'm not kidding! These folks need to be removed for OUR OWN GOOD. More than Enough said... Peace

[lentinelia]

"I'm a Christian, and so although I try not to have my religious beliefs dominate or determine my political views on this issue, I do believe that tradition and my religious beliefs say that marriage is something sanctified between a man and a woman.''
- Barack Obama 2004

I wouldn't be too proud of this comment if I were he.

Suppose we change a few words:

"I'm a Christian, and so although I try not to have my religious beliefs dominate or determine my political views on this issue, I do believe that tradition and my religious beliefs say that marriage is something sanctified between a white man and a white woman.''

or

"I'm a Christian, and so although I try not to have my religious beliefs dominate or determine my political views on this issue, I do believe that tradition and my religious beliefs say that marriage is something sanctified between a Christian and another Christian.­''

[yaznaioutibia]

Bravo Lentinelia. Very good

[Political Voyeur]

I'd like to see your reaction to him touring with Donald Rumsfeld despite their opposition on the Iraq war.

[mrman]

Mr. Jenkins...­thanks for the reality check.
The truth is McClurkin is point of view typical of most hollyrollers. Believers have always been given a pass on exclusion and hateful messages. I have many gay friends, I USED to be a believer, and I truly believe there is no REASONABLE EXCUSE FOR NOT ALLOWING SAME SEX MARRIAGE. But I also understand in this country it is going to take just a little longer for the masses to catch up and become enlightened. So if someone wants to throw away their vote for Senator Obama because he shares a stage with a religious zealot...t­hey really haven't been getting his message after all. As for Hutchinson­...he's always been an Obama hater.

BARACK THE VOTE!

[SamanthaJaneSalem]

As a member of the LGBT community, I can say that I still support Obama. It would be like not listening to Elton John because he sang with Eminem. I imagine it's the "popular gospel singer" connection Obama is going for here, not the "against gays" part. Christianity has a long tradition of being "against gays" so I just expect that. Since Hillary is so far ahead in the polls, maybe we should be looking more closely at the front-runner instead of piling on the second-place guy.

[duboisist]

If Obama is the "change candidate," but he is willing to embrace someone overtly hostile to gays so he can win, why would I want to vote for him instead of one of the other candidates?

BTW, all blacks are not anti-gay. Some blacks ATE HOMOSEXUAL. Personally, I would take 1 Bayard Rustin over 1000 each Obama, Jackson, and Sharpton.
AND comparing someone who believes homosexuality is a disease that must be cured to someone who believes "homosexuality to be comparable to thievery" is simply ridiculous.

[MPeter]

Thank you for writing. Obama is a genuine leader, out to heal and unite America. Anyone who listened to his 2004 speech in Boston remembers the line about having gay friends in the Red states and how no American liked Federal Agents poking around...
But, Hutchinson is old politics and a Clinton hatchetman who will do anything to nail Senator Obama.

[SeanGardner]

Thank you for pointing this out:

"For instance, Hillary Clinton recently trumpeted her friendship with Harold Mayberry, of the First African Methodist Church in Oakland; her press release on the meeting/endorsement left out the fact that Mayberry believes homosexuality to be comparable to thievery."

Those pretending to be outraged at Obama were likely never Obama supporters to begin with. NEVER!

What is lost in this is what you said: "Obama easily remains the most convincing on the issue of gay rights. He is by far the most comfortably eloquent on the subject, and he is right when he says that he is the only candidate who has brought the fight to some of its toughest frontiers.­" And you're right!

According to the gay website http://lesbianlife.about.com/od/lesbianactivism/p/BarackObama.htm, Obama believes the following:

(1) Barack Obama on Hate Crimes: Barack Obama co-sponsored legislation to expand federal hate crimes laws to include crimes perpetrated because of SEXUAL ORIENTATION and gender identity.

(2) Employment Non-Discrimination: Barack Obama supports the Employment Non-Discrimination Act and believes it should be expanded to include SEXUAL ORIENTATION and gender identity.

(3) Barack Obama and Gay Marriage: Although Barack Obama has said that he supports civil unions, he is against gay marriage. In an interview with the Chicago Daily Tribune, Obama said, "I'm a Christian. And so, although I try not to have my religious beliefs dominate or determine my political views on this issue, I do believe that tradition, and my religious beliefs say that marriage is something sanctified between a man and a woman."

He said he would support civil unions between gay and lesbian couples, as well as letting individual states determine if marriage between gay and lesbian couples should be legalized.

"Giving them a set of basic rights would allow them to experience their relationship and live their lives in a way that doesn't cause discrimination," Obama said. "I think it is the right balance to strike in this society."

You're right Paul, this is much ado about nothing.

[SeanGardner]

I love all of this "pretend outrage", as if Hillary's and Edward's gay supporters didn't already know their candidates have the same gay marrage views as Obama. THE SAME VIEWS!!!!!!!!!

But as Mr. Jenkins writes, neither Clinton or Edwards can lay claim to the type of record regarding gay issues that Obama can.

I guess that's what they call EXPERIENCE! After all, Obama has more legislative EXPERIENCE than Clinton. Obama was a state legislator for 8 years. When you add it up, Obama has been a politician, working on gay and lesbian issues for over a decade, whereas Edwards and Clinton have only 6 years and 7 years, respectably.

Working for America. BARACK OBAMA!

[SiskoKid]

You're right, he shouldn't change Washington politics, he should be a part of it. Yay for hypocrisy!

It's ok to admit your candidate has messed up and calling for him/her to change his mind on an issue or situation. Backing him on this is absolutely ludicrous. Actually, if he changes his stance, then it would make him look far better. It's also ok to admit they're wrong and still back them. But let's not lie about how this isn't an issue because it IS.

I guess Hillary was right, Obama IS abandoning his politics of hope. Now he's just Bush Lite Deux.

Obama: Politics of Hypocrisy, or politics as usual. Refreshing.

[amberglow]

None of them are good on this.

So considering that, why share a stage with such a hateful fool? In all occasions, Obama has been bending over backwards to reassure religious voters he's one of them. We shouldn't believe him?

I'll take Edwards anytime--at least he hasn't locked the door like Obama has, and is willing to struggle.

[poopdeck]

Wrong. That candidate's name is Kucinich.

[Marlyn]

"of course, we love Dennis Kucinich, but we are not going there."

Oh really?