OK now I'm angry
Obama spoke at a DNC fundraiser in Beverly Hills the other day. Queer protesters were outside. Note that Obama has been totally silent (in public, at least) on the Prop 8 decision, as he has been on DADT, DOMA, the HIV travel ban -- all of it. Now check this out, from Politico, via Dan Savage:
Obama even noted the gay right protesters outside the Beverly Hilton.
"One of them said, 'Obama, keep your promise,' and I thought that's fair," he said. "I don't know which promise he was talking about."
The crowd cracked up.
When he made the crack about Iowa at the Washington correspondents' dinner, I was irked, but not indignant. If he'd done anything toward fulfilling his campaign promises on gay civil rights during the first 100 days, that remark would actually have been funny, so I was having a hard time building up a head of steam about it. Now I'm really pissed.
Probably my biggest problem with Obama -- with his personality, not his policies -- is his arrogance, how he acts like one of the cool kids. That has bothered me from the beginning. I didn't like it one bit when he told Hillary she was likable enough, even though I knew she had dissed him first. But this -- now he's acting like he's too cool to notice that people's rights are being violated, rights he promised to protect. Too cool to think of civil rights as anything but another opportunity for a smartass remark. Now I feel like he doesn't give a shit about me. And for once, I thought the President did give a shit about me -- so I feel betrayed.
Obama has a talent for bringing out the 18 year old kid in me who was sure everyone would vote for Dukakis because he was obviously smarter than Bush I. It's like he wipes away 20 years of cynicism and I become dangerously naive. And that puts me in a position to get hurt. And I am.
I have to say that for once I'm proud of our queer and queer-friendly press. At every press conference, folks have been pushing, pushing, pushing Robert Gibbs to say something, anything, concrete about marriage equality, about DOMA, about DADT. They haven't given up. Obama must know this.
Do I have to add the obligatory disclaimer about how much better he is than any of the viable alternatives? Can we just take that as a given? And I know he's real busy with the economy and health care and stuff, but he's a smart guy, and a good multitasker. And some of the stuff we need -- like suspending enforcement of DADT -- really wouldn't take much of his time.
And he has a fucking mandate! Fierce advocate my ass.