Speaking to outgoing The Advocate D.C. reporter Kerry Eleveld yesterday afternoon, President Obama took the opportunity to announce he’s “going to stick” with his non-commital answer on whether he’ll end up supporting full marriage rights. And as for killing DOMA and passing ENDA? “I’ll be frank with you, I think that’s not going to get done in two years … unless we see a substantial shift in attitudes within the Republican caucus.”
And What News Did Obama Break In His First On-The-Record LGBT Media Interview?
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Eric
You had two years of the Democrats controlling everything and you did squat, and now you’re blaming the Republicans?
adam
@Eric: Uh, Republicans are going to take control of the House in January and are going to easily be able to filibuster in the Senate. It’s just a reality that the election made prospects far, far worse. The Democrats never had a filibuster-proof majority on things like ENDA and DOMA, also.
SteamPunk
@Eric:
Sorry to be pedantic, but:
Healthcare reform
Don’t Ask Don’t Tell
Matthew Shephard Hate Crimes Act
Credit Card reform
Wall Street reform
START Treaty
Student Loan Reform
9/11 First Responders Health Bill
Lily Ledbetter Act
(I’m probably missing a few things)
That’s hardly what I’d call doing “squat”. It may not be up to your standards and it may not be everything you’ve wished for (everyone wishes for something different), but President Obama has been pretty productive in the last 2 years. Even if you disagree with what he’s done, at least give him credit for doing something.
Also like Adam says, the Dems never had a filibuster-proof majority to begin with and nearly every single Republican is against repealing ENDA and DOMA. It’s going to be a tough two years ahead indeed.
Daez
@Eric: Passing hate crimes, keeping the American economy from imploding, passing the health care act, and repealing DADT is doing squat? OK!
Seriously, its not all about the gays. The Congress really does need to do their actual jobs, which is representing the will of all of their constituents not just a select few.
Daez
@SteamPunk: It seems like the current political mood is to get rid of whoever is in office if they don’t snap their fingers and get you exactly what you want. It really reflects on the impatient personality of a nine year old.
Not to mention, a great deal of the blame belongs to the gays here and elsewhere that refused to vote or voted Republican simply because they felt that Obama didn’t kiss their ass enough. This is what our impatience has gotten us. Now we will need to wait at least two years to get any more movement, and Obama will spend the next two years trying to save his job.
However, you can draw very similar parallels to the black rights movement because Johnson had made very similar comments because he felt that forcing the black rights issue in further bills would inflame the American people. However, in a slew of political moves, he managed to still finish passing the black rights movement’s legislation.