So the president will mention Don’t Ask Don’t Tell tonight in his State of the Union. But he will be talking about how it is the responsibility of Congress to repeal the law. But hey, he’ll “work” with them!
As his speech reads: “Abroad, America’s greatest source of strength has always been our ideals. The same is true at home. We find unity in our incredible diversity, drawing on the promise enshrined in our Constitution: the notion that we are all created equal, that no matter who you are or what you look like, if you abide by the law you should be protected by it; that if you adhere to our common values you should be treated no different than anyone else. We must continually renew this promise. My Administration has a Civil Rights Division that is once again prosecuting civil rights violations and employment discrimination. We finally strengthened our laws to protect against crimes driven by hate. This year, I will work with Congress and our military to finally repeal the law that denies gay Americans the right to serve the country they love because of who they are. We are going to crack down on violations of equal pay laws – so that women get equal pay for an equal day’s work. And we should continue the work of fixing our broken immigration system – to secure our borders, enforce our laws, and ensure that everyone who plays by the rules can contribute to our economy and enrich our nations. ” So, uh, yay for promises!
Jake the libertarian
Proof is in the pudding. Tell me what you HAVE done, not what you WILL do. Fuck hope… talk results.
San Francisco Treat
Ok so I have been carrying water for the administration on this issue on this site for some time. I’m done. There is going to be hardcore resistance from the right on this and having ONE sentence in the SOTU about eradicating a major source of state-sponsored discrimination and committing to “work with” Congress instead of vowing to accomplish repeal is OFFENSIVELY INSUFFICIENT.
Look, I’m still going to work hard to make sure we don’t end up with a President Thune or a President DeMint, but I’m officially done going to bat for this administration. ACCOMPLISH DADT repeal and I’ll have their back again.
Devon
It’ a good thing he’s never said that exact same thing before, otherwise this would just be more pretty, shiny words with absolutely nothing of value to back them up…
Oh wait…
Mike in Asheville
Code for “work with Congress” = fuck off fags.
jason
Obama is conning us again. Because of his personality, he has turned his Presidency into a political entity rather than principled one. As a result, no Republican is going to come to the party. Obama will then claim the mean old Republicans are hampering his efforts to repeal DADT, thus netting us in his political pawn net and keeping us on his side.
The whole thing is a massive Obama con. He had one whole year with a supermajority to do something but failed. Don’t fall for the Obama con or the Democrat spin doctors who enable him.
Lukas P.
Not shocked but pissed off here. More fancy words and idle promises. Meanwhile thousands of gay/lesbian members of our armed forces face expulsion from their career, and others, reduced to a “gag order” fight deadly dangerous wars for our “national interests” [oil, terrorism, oil, petroleum, safety, oil] without their own rights being recognized or granted.
I’m ashamed. Politics trumps common sense and human decency yet again.
SIGH.
Fitz
@San Francisco Treat: I am very proud of you, and I don’t mean that condescendingly. It is very hard to accept our current reality, but it is better if we do.
Fitz
@Lukas P.: And even more importantly to me… another generation of queer kids get raised knowing that their government sees them as lepers.
Republican
Out of respect for the many good Democrats here, I rarely comment on these kinds of threads, but I will say this. Besides getting a clue and pushing for gay rights (and obviously most Republican politicians need to do this as well, so I’m not singling him out), I think President Obama needs to reevaluate his focus on speeches. He gives great speeches, but I think people are getting a little tired of seeing him on the TV several times a day giving a speech. Less talk, more action. Just my .02.
greenluv1322
I am so sick of this dude. All of this hype for what. I see his def hetero…so quick. Not even a two minute man!
PADude
He has until the first Tuesday in November. Tick-tock.
At that point, I enter the voting booth and either support the Democrats who fought for equal rights, or vote for Independents who are on the right track (and abstain from any decision where neither is true).
Pretty words are nice, but let’s see some action here.
Kieran
Doesn’t the President of the United States have the power to end the persecution of gays in the military through the stroke of a pen, by executive order? Isn’t that how President Truman ended racial segregation in the military in the 1940s? Just DO THE RIGHT THING President Obama.
Wesley
Talk is cheap.
I was pleased to see the word “repeal” and not change.
MaxH
He cannot end DADT with an executive order, Kiernan. He can halt discharges, but the policy will remain in place unless Congress repeals it, so a Republican president could come along and reverse it. It’ll be that much harder to do, though, because gays will have served openly for years, and the whole world won’t have crumbled. It’ll be hard to argue against gays in the military at that point.
thomesings
we’re quite jaded here. i’m probably all too naive, but i’d like to think this is big. sure, plenty of sotu talking points never come to pass, but the fact that he’d mention that, going into what looks like it’ll be a tough year .. idk, he just upped my hope-o-meter a notch. yeah, he’s been a lot of hot air, but it’s got to be a good sign that he’d throw this out there in this political climate. of course, i’m just setting myself up for disappointment when the republican controlled congress kills it and throws more bile onto the debate, but … come on .. let’s hope.
Jake the libertarian
I knew it. He isn’t going to do JACK SHIT.
Fitz
@thomesings: “Hope” in this case means continued victimhood. No thanks. You are better off hoping for the Easter Bunny.
Dan
So he mentioned DADT. Is that all he’s going to do? What about ENDA and DOMA?
k6tmk6
I’m disappointed by the brevity of his comment. It’s obvious he’s not the gay messiah we’d voted for. We have to accept him for who he is. McCain has already released a statement condemning any attempt to repeal DADT. On this issue at least, we picked the lesser of 2 evils.
dontblamemeivotedforhillary
POTUS might sign DADT as an Executive Order the DAY AFTER the midterms in November….so I think we should live recklessly on Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security and continue having hot sex with guys in the military and not donate any campaign money this year, except to lgbt candidates with a track record. Would have liked to have at least heard a mention of Gay Civil Rights and less about Nuclear Power Plants but, I think he knows how to save his ass for 2012. I feel had, again!
President Thune or a President DeMint. Oh, please! they’re nobodies in this sound-bite era of Presidential campaigning.
Republican
@k6tmk6:
I just checked and you’re right. Very, very disappointed that McCain would do that. He must be terrified of the primary challenge that he’s facing from the right. Sick to my stomach tonight.
nancy glue
@Republican:
“sick to your stomach”, huh?
thanks for being honest.
Dirty Ole Man
Ah yes….The typical responses from a bunch
of jaded bitter queens. This President just
stated that he WILL work with the military and
congress to appeal DADT, yet most of you act as
if he didn’t address the issue at all during his speech.
Given the way most of you bash this President,
I don’t think you deserve anything from him.
I bet most of you go to bed very lonely and depressed.
Sucks to be you! ha!
Josh_Texas
Anything LGBT is DOA in this Congress.
President Iwanna knows he can blame the Congress. One term for this phony.
Josh_Texas
For all you political junkies, Obama can’t pass anything LGBT. His words have no value. They used to be hopeful. Then doubtful. Now, pitiful.
Republican
@Dirty Ole Man:
“Given the way most of you bash this President,
I don’t think you deserve anything from him.”
Do you even understand what you are saying here?
Republican
On a positive note, I thought the First Lady looked pretty good tonight.
San Francisco Treat
@Dirty Ole Man – I’m not bitter or jaded. I’m 26 for crying out loud. Further, regardless of whether we express dismay with a President that promised us “fierce” advocacy and then delivered a hate crimes bill with 70+% approval and is now offering to *try* to get us a DADT REpeal (not appeal, you moron) that also has 70+% approval — we deserve to have leaders that advocate for equal protection under the law. That’s what they SWEAR to uphold every time they take the oath of office. It’s a pretty low bar.
Oh, and I go to bed with a super hottie every night (usually the same one), even if I am sometimes depressed (which I think most thinking people sometimes are).
@Hillary – I see Thune and DeMint as frontrunners for the nomination, but it doesn’t really matter who the red team picks because they all have the same position regarding us.
Mike C.
It is interesting to not that, according to all reports, Obama’s aides opposed his including DADT language in the speech. That is why earlier White House officials were saying that DADT would NOT be in the speech. Obama overrode his staff’s objections, and that’s why Axelrod rushed told CNN at the last minute.
Also, his line “It’s the right thing to do” was not scripted if you noticed, he added it himself
Ozymandias
If anything, I just shrug my shoulders at this point and think ‘We’ll see…’ I feel very badly for our combat heroes like Dan Choi and Victor Frederach who are treated like so much trash… just saw the Lieutenant Colonel tonight on the Rachel Maddow show… unbelievably he is STILL serving, but with a potential discharge hanging over his head.
Of course, his testimony that him being Gay has done NOTHING to reduce his unit’s cohesion and morale doesn’t mean a damn thing… right.
reason
@San Francisco Treat
I have no idea what you are talking about, he said “to finally repeal the law” not try.
Anyone that is surprised about McCain’s statement just doesn’t get it and never will.
I am confused, as I am sure a lot of people are, what exactly do the people on this site that are complaining wish the president said in his SOTU speech? He stated that he was going to pass hate crimes, he did, but it was meet with nearly zero accolades on this site, to my astonishment it was meet with anger and resentment. He spent time in his most important address of the year, where he will likely have his largest audience, to speak on our behalf directly stating that he is going to work with congress to end DADT “this year,” but yet again he is rewarded with anger and resentment.
Most presidents have a rough first year: Reagan, Clinton, H.W. Bush etc. This president was meet with a raging storm that no president has faced in most of our lives, yet a depression has been averted and a recover in progress. Iraq is winding down and Afghanistan, the perpetrators of the deaths of thousands of Americans and the loss of countless treasure, is winding up. Civil rights laws have been passed including the fair pay act, a boon for women, and hate crimes legislation. Health care legislation, something that has been toxic for several administrations, is in progress even with the awareness of negative political implications. Taking into account the circumstances it has been a strong year even with the setbacks and a rancorous me first public.
Right after the speech one of his senior advisers reinforced the presidents promise to repeal DADT stating that he said he would during the campaign and several times last year, it something the president feels is important, and is arriving at the fore of his agenda as health care is winding down: work on DADT will commence immediately with details coming out in the days and weeks ahead.
So, instead of people getting angry or sitting back lazily in there comfy chairs pointing fingers and sauntering around till the next election, its time to provide aid to the president. He stated that he wants to change Washington, but he can’t do it alone, he needs us helping, not relaxing and complaining. DADT was passed in the first place because we were to lazy to stand up for Clinton; if we repeat the mistake again then we don’t deserve equal rights. The process may not be happening as fast as some like, but that is the reality of Washington; governing, keeping promises, and getting things done is difficult especially with the overabundance of scurrilous individuals in the capitol. Lets call are representatives, pressure Gay Inc., and nudge the president in a positive manner to get this thing done.
B
One thing I noticed is that, when Obama talked about repealing
DADT, he got lots of applause, while the military contingent seemed to just sit there and sulk. Did anyone else get the same impression – it went by pretty quickly.
That may be why it is taking so long – he has to get the military on board to make the repeal a success (otherwise they may try to sabotage it.
hyhybt
@Mike C.: “…and a tasty way to do it?”
Steve
Congressmen (at both State and Federal levels) are “politicians”. They are in the business of “polling”. They count people, and vote the way the majority tells them to vote. Or, perhaps more realistically, they count money, and vote they way the money tells them to vote. The right-wing “conservative” churches have both more people and more money than we do. Hence, they own the politicians.
For this year, Obama thinks the Democrats need some gay votes. Elections will be won or lost by small margins, so a 2-percent swing vote might be important. But, individual congressmen make their own political calculations, and most of them still see more conservative church people than gays.
That may be changing gradually, as more churches begin to look at gay people and see human beings instead of monsters, but it will take at least another generation.
Mark
Over 75% of Americans are in favor of Gays serving opening in the military! We need a new leader.
terrwill
>>>>>>>> SICK OF THOSE FREAKIN ST.LUCIA POP UPS?? SEND AN EMAIL TO EVERYONE LISTED HERE ADVISING YOU WILL NEVER EVEN CONSIDER A TRIP THERE BECAUSE OF THOSE ADS:
http://www.stlucia.org/talk/contactus.asp
Josh_Texas
@reason: You said:
Lets call are representatives, pressure Gay Inc., and nudge the president in a positive manner to get this thing done.”
Insane. Just insane. We just have to apply a little pressure? For 50 years we’ve applied pressure.
Politics will not save us. We are wasting our time and money on the President, on Democrats and Gay Inc. It all been a waste. We are no closer to equality than we were 25 years ago.
hyhybt
@Josh_Texas: I suppose it depends on what you mean by “closer to equality.”
@B: I think they’re supposed to do that no matter what he says.
Josh_Texas
@hyhybt:
It means “politically” we are no closer to being granted full equality than we were 25 years ago. The public has made some progress (mostly old people dying) but politicians have not.
Josh_Texas
This is not the first time a president has expressed support for a gay civil rights issue during a State of the Union. Democratic President Bill Clinton called for support of hate crimes legislation during his 1999 address.
It never actually passed, we finally got it by holding defense spending hostage. That’s NOT progress.
hyhybt
@Josh_Texas: We got it. That’s progress, regardless of whether it was a separate bill or not. It’s not as much progress as any of us would like, but it’s progress nonetheless.
B
No. 38 · hyhybt wrote, “@B: I think they’re supposed to do that no matter what he says.” … except the military guys applauded when Obama said that he was going to provide more support for soldiers returning to the U.S.
schlukitz
The President said Blah, blah, blah and blah, blah, blah
Reaching for remote control…..
reason
@Josh_Texas:
That is progress, just because your president and want something doesn’t mean you are going to get it. Clinton put it in his SOTU address because he was committed. The fact that the bill was held hostage shows he had to fight hard to get it and we should be grateful.
Bush passed his tax cuts through reconciliation if I recall correctly and that was a victory even if it cracked the restraints on the deficit.
The democrats may move part of health care through reconciliation which will not tarnish the victory if they get what they want.
Except of course things that pass through reconciliation sunset after about a decade.
Josh_Texas
@reason: Oh, WE become terrorists by holding defense spending hostage, INSTEAD of it actually PASSING, and you consider that progress? That’s juvenile.
We can’t get anything past the US Senate. How’s that for progress? You can keep sucking political dick, I’m interested in real progress.
reason
Real progress doesn’t happen in Washington, if you want that you should be an activist on the streets. Washington doesn’t change the people, people change people, then people change Washington. Generally people are to busy with their own lives or so repulsed by the whole process that they give up, and Washington stays the same. As far as the defense appropriations bill goes republicans are more likely to hold their nose and pass it then let the military go unfunded. These so called “terrorist techniques” are the way several bills are passed each year by both parties for the past several decades. I guess that would imply that congress is loaded with “terrorist” in your eyes. If you don’t like the games played in politics than stay away, some can stomach it others can’t. Congresspeople are juvenile; children throwing tantrums on an hourly basis, and demanding that there bottoms are wiped with five inch microfiber cloth before they lift a finger. John McCain would have fooled me if his skin wasn’t slipping of his bones.
Josh_Texas
@reason: I agree that “people change people,” but not by being an “activist on the streets.” The idea that protest, civil disobedience and so-called “direct action” change any minds is completely without any supporting evidence. In fact, evidence suggests that it hurts our cause.
If you really want to make a difference, skip the activism bull shit, talk to your friends, neighbors and co-workers. Enroll them. Enroll strangers, too. Get them to support us. Get them to join us. That will help.
We have to let go of two things: 1) the false hope of a political solution and 2) the tired old idea that expressions of anger (in the streets or anywhere else) help our cause.
If we do this – by being honest and objective, we can finally make some real, sustainable progress.
reason
Oh I am not talking about protest and civil disobedience, you must have missed the arguments that we had over the marches, I don’t believe in that. I am talking about being the people’s lobbyist, grassroots campaigning, arranging meetings with legislators, letter drives, phone drives, get out and talking to individuals weather they like you or not and being cordial. What I just described is activism in its truest for, it is how you start a true progressive moment. Trust me t.hat sort of effort can change politicians mind; people changing goverment. Marching, protesting, destruction, and all that other stuff is just how you make a fool of yourself.
San Francisco Treat
@ reason – “work with congress” means “I’ll see what I can do” i.e. “I’ll try.” I didn’t say that was opposition – I said it was offensively insufficient. ALSO – don’t accuse us of sitting lazily on the sidelines, you have no idea who we are or what we do – and that shit doesn’t apply at least to me. FURTHER – I was a child when Clinton settled for DADT, so don’t hang that around my neck either.
I KNOW IT’S WASHINGTON – BUT WHEN YOU PLEDGE TO REVERSE A POLICY AND YOU HAVE 3/4 OF THE COUNTRY WITH YOU – YOU REVERSE THE FUCKING POLICY. THIS IS OUTRAGEOUS BECAUSE HE’S TRYING TO PLAY THIS LIKE A BIIIG LIFT and it’s a REALLY REALLY FUCKING SMALL LIFT. we’re being played and it’s pissed me off.
one more thing – you said, “Marching, protesting, destruction, and all that other stuff is just how you make a fool of yourself.” Pick up a history book you absolute idiot.
Jake from Boston
I am with you SF treat. You have to break a few eggs to make an omelette. I just hope that bloodshed isn’t the only solution to actually get us equal rights with straight people..
reason
@San Francisco Treat:
I was a child when Clinton settled for DADT also, welcome to the club, but a lot of years have passed since then. The president stating that he is going to work with congress to repeal DADT means exactly that, he is going to work with congress to repeal DADT. If you think that it is going to be a cake walk to get DADT repealed you don’t know government, it is going to be a monstrumental lift. The republicans will do anything in their power to bring this president to his knees, even if it requires doing damage to the country. It was a risk for the president to even mention DADT in his state of the union and his advisers were against it, his blood is now in the water. 3/4 support means little, I am sure many of those people want us serving because they feel are lives are worth less, not because they want equality.
The moderates in the republican party have already come out against it, powerful conservatives like my senator John Cornyn have pledged to do everything in their power to block this: my senior senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, who is running a primary campaign against our staunch conservative governor, will loose a limb to derail everything the democrats touch as a sacrifice to the voters. It is a different world out here in America once you leave California with its San Francisco values behind. Some democrat senators like Ben Nelson and others were sitting down frowning at the mention of DADT granted it would only cost them political capital, which is already negative, to support this repeal.
If it was going to be easy they would have already passed it as a stand alone bill with the super-majority. Instead the president and his wife have been nurturing their relationship with the military, people who they are meeting for the first time and already distrust them, since day one to blunt the damage that the brass is going to do. The administration is plotting how they can try to force this thing through as a rider on a bill that only needs 50 votes. To get there is going to require an immense amount of negotiating and arm twisting and it is still far from certain. If the gay community and allies sit on the sidelines and watch or spend there time attacking the administration the bill will most certainly go down.
As for direct action (marching, protesting, various and sundry b.s.) is worthless. We already had this argument on queerty before the Maine disaster. People were dead set to go marching instead of organizing voters in Maine, and the Maine vote went down like a bag of bricks. This was after Barney Frank, the openly gay U.S. Rep, warned that marching was going to do nothing but put pressure on the grass. The politicians think protest are poor drugged up powerless idiots, good for a laugh over morning breakfast. The 60’s are over, times have changed, Washington is a different place. Long gone are the days when people did the right thing because it was right, Washington is now a broken and cynical place rot with grandstanding, backstabbing, and devious tricks. So you can leave the protest section of the history books right were they belong in history.
For the politicians to care a real movement has to be happening were they are inundated with calls, letters, meetings, lobbyist, and donations. In the conservative states on an issue as divisive as gay rights that won’t even work, it will require shrewd politics, months of arguing, and back room deals to get one or two senators if we are extremely lucky. That is the kind of struggle that the president is trying to plan for to help an ungrateful constituency. All of that while dealing with health care, bankrupt economy, two wars, angry environmentalist, Iran, North Korea, campaigning for helpless idiots like Coakley who run their operation to the ground and then call the president at the last second crying, and the tea party to boot. So show the president some support, he said he can’t change Washington alone he needs us, but some of us have already turned their backs on him and sharpened their knives instead.
Josh_Texas
The LAST thing we need are LGBT “protesters.” Non-thinkers protest.