by Deb Cupples | I suppose President Obama deserves snaps for giving inspirational
speeches: at least, many people have chosen to feel inspired while watching
his speeches.
Unfortunately, as we've seen regarding some pretty important issues (e.g., renegotiating NAFTA, opposing Telecom Amnesty, closing Guantanamo...), Mr. Obama's words have not always translated into action.
Starting back during the Democratic primaries (and ever since), I've wondered whether Mr. Obama prefers grabbing headlines with (and credit for ) neat words -- and then simply moving on and leaving those words in the dust.
Apparently, some people feel similarly about some of the words that President Obama recently spoke, at the Human Rights Council (HRC) dinner, regarding gay rights. The New York Times reports:
"President Obama on Saturday renewed his vow to allow gay men and lesbians to serve openly in the military, but failed to offer a timetable for doing so — an omission likely to inflame critics who say he is not fighting aggressively enough for gay rights....."In the nine months since, Mr. Obama has made only limited progress on the issues that are important to gays. He has pushed for hate crime legislation, and a bill, approved in the House on Thursday, now appears headed for passage. He has put forth a package of domestic partnership benefits for federal workers, but faced criticism that the effort did not include health benefits. He has said he would push to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, which allows states to refuse to recognize same-sex marriages in other states, but it remains on the books.
"But of all the issues Mr. Obama has vowed to address, the Clinton-era “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy is perhaps the one that stirs the most emotion. Mr. Obama said Saturday night that he was working with the Pentagon and with House and Senate leaders to repeal the policy, but many gay rights supporters have accused him of dragging his feet."
The Atlantic's Andrew Sullivan live-blogged the HRC dinner. To give you an idea of some of the reactions, I've pasted a few of his comments below:
8.56 pm. More campaign boilerplate. This speech could have been made - and was made - a year ago.
8.53 pm. His major achievement - the one thing he has actually done - is invite gay families to the Easter egg-roll.
8.51 pm. Again, more of a campaign speech. I've called on Congress to repeal DOMA [Defense of Marriage Act]. Does he think we're fools? He has done nothing to advance this.
8.50 pm. Now we get the campaign speech on Don't Ask, Don't Tell. Does he not realize he is now in office? "I'm working to end this policy. I will end Don't Ask, Don't Tell." Solmonese has given us the timeline: 2017. This is bullshit...."
We've almost completed the first decade of the twenty-first century. We have cell phones and Internet and Twitter and portable DVD players and hundreds of channels to choose from on our TVs.
Communication is fast. The marketplace of ideas is more vast than ever and open to nearly everyone in our nation.
Thus, there is rarely, if ever, valid cause to be shocked by the fact that America is a melting pot of ideas, philosophies, religions, and lifestyles.
As long as people do not unlawfully harm others, all Americans deserve the same rights and protections -- regardless of the sexual activities that adults consensually enjoy in their bedrooms (or bathrooms or even on kitchen floors).
American Christians should be staunchly suppotive of this concept, because America does not have one, unified form of Christianity.
Instead, America's Christians tend to be divided into sects (e.g., Mormons, Catholics, Baptists, Pentecostals, Quakers, Jehovah's Witnesses...). Some of those sects are at war with each other and don't even acknowledge other sects as validly Christian.
In other words, members of specific Christian sects are in a numerical minority. They could easily become targets of persecution by factions of other Christian sects -- the same way that people leading homosexual lifestyles have been targeted by some heterosexuals and a-sexuals.
If everyone would simply agree that we're all part of some minority or another -- that we all deserve the same rights and protections -- we'd all enjoy greater security while pursuing our various forms of happiness.
Memeorandum has commentary.
Other Buck Naked Politics Posts:* Public Option Needed Because Private Insurers are Robbing Us
* Small Banks Failing, Economy Still Not so Good
* Grayson Fever Finally Catching
* Justice Department Cracks Down on Medicare Fraud
* Right Wing Hate Speech and the Census-Taker Lynching
* Debtor Revolt: Bank of America Goes Too Far
.
President Obama Merely Talking Again? Well, he'll win another Nobel Peace Prize, hayna? Or no?
Posted by: flowerplough | October 11, 2009 at 03:08 PM