Not only is the president’s silence on the battle in Maine (and Washington) leaving an obvious question about discrimination up to chance (and the blood, sweat, and tears of Protect Maine Equality) today, but so too is the failure of America’s Gay Inc. groups to “to obtain a clear cut endorsement for the LGBT community.” Says David Mixner: FAIL.
Robert
It would be great if gay marriage were a federal issue. But it’s not (yet). The matter is a state-by-state issue and as such Obama really doesn’t have any business throwing the weight of his status as President into the mix.
I’ll be extremely happy when gay marriage is legalized at a federal level; but until then I’m not going to lambaste the president for NOT sticking his nose where it doesn’t belong.
Queerty on the other hand, seems to be trying to find every flimsy excuse to complain about Obama.
Brian NJ
Gay Inc. can’t complain about Obama or make any demands of him. It would violate their wonderful strategy. You know — the BSDM bondage prostitute strategy — where your john gets to tie you up up and stuff you in a closet, as long as he promises to give you 20 bucks by morning.
Rahm, Plouffe and Axlerod know that gays have been on the streets so long they will take any deal. The HRC and GLAAD have always loved this pound-me-now-deliver-later “strategy” with the democratic party. That is why gay issues more often than not end up mutilated and thrown in a dumpster. Bill Clinton still thinks DADT and DOMA are gifts to gay community! And just look at all the black-eyed bitches on this blog. “It’s not their fault! They are wonderful!” Disgusting.
Bill
It’s funny that people complain about the President’s lack of inaction when we should be complaining about their lack of understanding the law. Federal law requires Federal elected officials to stay out of local politics. There’s a little thing called the 10th Amendment, which proceeds 13th and 14th.
Landon Bryce
Yay! Race baiting!!!!!! Obama blaming!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Fuck you, Queerty, for the headline.
I mean, yeah, the President could have done a better job on Maine, but he did just speak to the HRC in his first term, something no other president has done. I’m irritated most because sometimes Obama does deserve this degree of rancor– but not today. The volume doesn’t always need to be on eleven. My indignation at Obama today is about five, and I’m a sanctimonious prick.
I’m much angrier at Eric Holder than I am at Obama. He is the one severely off-message, both with the DOMA briefs and the awful statement about Maine.
Is it possible that you actually can’t tell African American Democrats in suits apart?
PopSnap
Obama has NOT solved world hunger, pulled us out of Iraq and Afghanistan, passed marriage equality, ended all war, destroyed poverty, and ended racism. What with all of the decades Obama’s been in office and with his superpowers, you would have thought he’d do this, but he hasnt and THIS MAKES ME MAAADDDDD
Brian NJ
Obama has his gay firewall to protect him from having to move congress to repeal DADT and DOMA. He can keep us on the back burner, while he engages in everything else. HRC can throw him parties, and the sick abuse cycle can continue.
Rick
WTF, Queerty? Does this mean Obama gets the credit if we win?
Sam
Way to miss the real story Queerty. While you were trying to find a way to blame Obama for everything bad in geighland, HRC is screwing up again in New York.
In NY-23, HRC did NOTHING to support Republican Dede Scozzafava, who is openly in favor of marriage equality. As soon as she dropped out, they started making calls and sending e-mails in support of Democrat Bill Owens, who does NOT support same-sex marriage.
What the F is up with THAT, HRC? Way to show that being shills for the Democrats is more important than getting equality.
DeAnimator
They’re not race baiting or Obama baiting. Obama is doing the same thing Clinton did- he’s dicking around and not fulfilling his promises.
Qweerty has a lot of problems but quite honestly, Obama is a fucking lying asshole. So I’m behind their criticism of him. He’s just as prejudiced as the other presidents we’ve had.
He’s not Jesus Christ, he’s a politician. And so far, he’s acted like it.
Attmay
I also support Queerty in its criticism of Obullshitter and his cult.
Oh, and as for the “state’s rights” red herring (the ones Democrats used to use to defend slavery and segregation): states have no rights. Only individuals have rights. States have powers, and when they abuse them, as they are now, it is the moral right and moral duty of the Federal Government to put a stop to them, protocol be damned.
InExile
I agree with Mixner. As usual no leadership from the White House on states voting away gay’s civil rights! Prop 8, he was silent on that one also, the bigots used his voice in robo calls.
AlwaysGay
It is Obama and progressives’ fault we lose in every state marriage equality gets voted on. If Obama would just say something about his objection to these public (heterosexual) votes on gay issues in a speech a few people would vote our way and we would have a chance of winning. Instead he just writes a note which is of no use. Remember George Bush campaigned for haterosexual-only marriage in 2004 and 2006 when the issues were on the ballot. So yes, the federal government does get involved in state issues. Back in the 1950s California had a referendum to repeal fair housing which passed. The federal government led by the first black housing secretary stepped in and stopped funding California. The DNC didn’t get involve in the Prop 8 campaign until the last couple weeks and they haven’t gotten involved in any gay related referendum this year. In fact the DNC just sent an email to Mainers to help Democratic New Jersey Governor win his election.
reason
For all those who are constantly being sarcastic about Obama being the messiah, I am actually starting to wonder if y’all believe he is. The president hopping into some local marriage fray is not going to do a darn thing. The office of the president did not invest in Obama the power to change the social fabric of a country steeped in centuries of tradition. Stop begging for government welfare and take responsibility, roll up your sleeves travel to Maine and volunteer. When your done contact your legislators on a regular bases, and donate your hard earn money to campaigns working on equality.
The biggest error of the democratic party is the failure to articulate that they are not your sugar daddy and the government never will be. Instead Obama put it in a round about way, OBAMA: “There will be setbacks and false starts. There are many who won’t agree with every decision or policy I make as president. And we know the government can’t solve every problem.
But I will always be honest with you about the challenges we face. I will listen to you, especially when we disagree. And, above all, I will ask you to join in the work of remaking this nation, the only way it’s been done in America for 221 years — block by block, brick by brick, calloused hand by calloused hand.”
Basically what he is saying is the government can’t solve any problem, all it can do is attempt to make things a little bit better. Solving the problem requires the back breaking labor and dedication of the people. This community needs to look to itself to solve its problems not just to elected officials. The Republican party is a lot more blunt about this, Government should not do anything for the people but provide a few basic functions like but not limited to security from foreign powers, beside that you are on your own step up and pull yourself up by your own boot straps.
The sooner this community realize that we are not entitled to anything, and the president not only cannot make us equal he doesn’t owe it to us either, the better. We need to do our own heavy lifting to change societal norms and get legislation to the presidents desk that he can sign.
Brian NJ
Take the two hate laws against us off the books? Yea, Obama can do that. If he can get a trillion dollar bailout, reorganize the financial and health sectors by pressing congress, he can get TWO SIMPLE REPEALS ON HIS DESK. I hired HIM to roll up HIS sleeves and undue Bill Clinton’s hillbilly hack jobs. Gays have done enough for the democrats. They now control the government and God Damn it they better keep up their end.
Kurt
Everything always comes back to Obama. Let’s try this. Rather than behave like 4 year olds and cry and stomp our feet and shout “Daddy [Obama] fix it” how about we take some responsibility ourselves? Really! How about gays actually do something to directly help in Maine rather than contract that work out to Obama.
On, right. That would mean being responsible adults.
reason
@Brian NJ
If you think that spending 10 months campaigning, throwing some cash and showing up to vote is doing enough then you just don’t get it. That is barley even scratching the surface, and if the community is famished already from that little push then were in serious trouble.
Yeah he got the trillion dollar bailout because the most powerful levers of this society corporate America was galvanized into action to save itself, and even still the country is reeling without jobs. Government can do a little but is not going to save us. A large sector of society has been working for at least half a century to try to reorganize the health care system and it’s still going to fall short. The bulk of the progress is from the people, the government can’t save us.
Sure you hired the president as the CEO of America, but if the workers (us) don’t work hard the company will flounder. Obama & co. may loose their jobs, but you are going to loose your pension. If they loose the Democrats will blame us, not only will we become a toxic asset to them but then all of the work will be squanders, the new hard right conservative party that’s emerging will take us back to the 1800’s.
Obama’s life is already a success he had a golden parachute before he walked in, he is now untouchable. Bigotry, hatred you name it can’t touch him he will have people grovelling at his feet for the rest of his life, just ask the nearly complete failure #43. This is not about him or the other golden parachute democrats it’s about our future, the way the system is gamed they will always be successful (Bill Frist, Tom Delay, Elliot Spitzer, Newt Gingrich, Jimmy Carter, Scumbag. Mark “real estate magnate and radio show host” Foley; have you seen them in the streets begging).
Brian NJ
We went right to the bottom of the list. Our support to the democratic party has been improperly evaluated, because we work too hard for the party, instead of making demands.
The problem is not that we will become a toxic asset to the democratic party if we don’t keep throwing support to them; the problem is that the ALREADY treat us like a toxic asset because of the party’s homophobia. They have become the toxic asset to us, keeping us in this sick holding pattern of promises and broken promises.
They know that keeping Bill Clinton’s hate legislation on the books is wrong, but the homophobia keeps them from taking action. They are afraid of the opposition reaction, and just have no “fight.”
Gays need to 1. Stop showing support for the democrats and the government. 2. Start displaying anger and criticism toward the government. We need to let them know they have to deliver, or we won’t be there for them. It is the same as ending any cycle of abuse.
reason
The point that you continue to fail to grasp is that we need to build the movement from the ground up, and solve our own problems not depend on government. Marching in front of the government did absolutely nothing, they could careless. Burning time demonizing them will do absolutely nothing, but probably get us a back hand to the face. The truth about the top of the ticket is we can’t hurt them, the democratic primary is over until 2016. The people that they need now is the independents, right wing democrats, and left wing republicans. After the primary there is a rush to the center because that is where a general election is won. With history as a marker (besides Ted Kennedy) the president will not face a serious primary challenge in 2012, so he will be catering to the independents all through that election cycle. The flip side is the president is not opposed to furthering the gay rights cause if he has the political cover to do so. That’s where our community comes in, and does the heavy lifting granted it’s in our interest, the buck stops here. If or when the democrats loose congressional seats the work is only going to get harder because the type of conservatives that are coming in are vehemently opposed to our progress. The new conservative revolution will have an impact on the body politic, and the democrats are going to make a slight shift to the right in order to retain votes unless we are successful at our work and deliver the political cover they need.
Brian NJ
Obama and his advisors are always looking for political cover from us. We we need political cover from HIM in the States. He needs to lobby congress to get him bills repealing DADT and DOMA before the midterms.
It is a political imperative for him to deliver the repeals so that gays can get whipped up and motivated for the midterms. They need to understand that it is not just the gay vote. Upholding the constitution is the hope and promise of America, and it is what motivates a large portion of his supporters. They don’t get how important and politically crucial getting the repeals through. It is patriotism itself. By taking the repeals out of the political realm, and moving it into the realm of just the right thing to do, Obama is also playing brilliant politics by recognizing that we are a powerful asset, not a liability.
We have friends, family and supporters that we heavily influence. The democrats have to pay attention to the base. Forgetting about the repeals and having not plan for the repeals is political suicide for the democrats, I think.
Our job is to help Obama not make this mistake. Give us a plan, hearings, action. He risks a failed presidency, I really think so.
reason
Stop deferring the work on to one man and his few influential advisers. We are a community of 9 million to 30 million without our allies, guess who going to have a bigger impact on congress if we worked together. With the shear numbers we can literally get more work done in 5 minutes that he could if he devoted every second of an 8 year presidency to gay rights. Now imagine if we all spent 2-3 hours a week on our community, the sky is the limit. We are the workers, we can’t succeeded with out us.
As for the realm of just doing the right thing, friend if we all did that just Americans alone the entire world would be a different place. But enough of the quixotic feelings, it’s just not the reality of the world that we live in. In this world if you try to do what is right with out planning, strategizing, maneuvering, and releasing decoys you get cut down before reaching first base. That is why Bush Jr. was baffled and thought Obama had lost his mind when he was preaching about transparency, changing Washington, coming out and just doing the right thing. It is not that simple especially in today’s political climate. Here is an excerpt of Obama meeting Bush at the White House as a newly elected senator.
Bush:
“Come over here for a second,” he said, leading me off to one side of the room.
“You know,” he said quietly, “I hope you don’t mind me giving you a piece of advice.”
“Not at all, Mr. President.” He nodded. “You’ve got a bright future,” he said. “Very bright. But I’ve been in this town a while and, let me tell you, it can be tough. When you get a lot of attention like you’ve been getting, people start gunnin’ for ya. And it won’t necessarily just be coming from my side, you understand. From yours, too. Everybody’ll be waiting for you to slip. Know what I mean? So watch yourself.”
“Thanks for the advice, Mr. President.”
“All right. I gotta get going. You know, me and you got something in common…”
Put it in perspective, he can’t even be a good family man by taking his wife to dinner without being demonized. Trying to give equality to the gays without cover and shrewd politicking forget about it.
Arvistopolis
Does it ever get tiring, Queerty? Always blaming all the details of everything on Obama? It certainly gets tiring to read. All. Of. The. Time.
Attmay
#21:
Blow it out your ass. It gets more tiring watching Obullshit and the Demoncrats stab us in the back. All. Of. The. Time. And his House Faggots constantly sticking up for him.