Jesus Christ on a Cracker this has been a good week for my relationship with Barack Obama and it’s only Wednesday! Speaking of Wednesday, Obama gave a shout out to gay rights in his address at the United Nations today:
“No country should deny people their rights to freedom of speech and freedom of religion, but also no country should deny people their rights because of who they love which is why we must stand up for the rights of gays and lesbians everywhere. And no country can realize its potential if half its population cannot reach theirs… this week the us signed a new declaration on women’s participation next year we should each announce the steps we are taking to break down the economic and political barriers that stand in the way of women and girls. This is what our commitment to human progress demands.”
[yframe url=’https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6G0UF4Twi4&t=5m20s’]
As I’ve said ~45 times, to mixed results, I’ve felt all along that Obama has the right idea and would do right by us soon enough. I also believe, as it was written by a former GOP staffer who left the party after 28 years due to his disgust over how it was operating, that Obama’s intentions have been consistently and honestly quite contemptibly obstructed by a political party which seeks to destroy him for their own personal gain and the wealth of their lobbyists, rather than for the well-being of the American people. (Also, racism plays a significant role in this situation.) A brief excerpt from the essay written by that aforementioned ex-GOP staffer:
A couple of years ago, a Republican committee staff director told me candidly (and proudly) what the method was to all this obstruction and disruption. Should Republicans succeed in obstructing the Senate from doing its job, it would further lower Congress’s generic favorability rating among the American people. By sabotaging the reputation of an institution of government, the party that is programmatically against government would come out the relative winner.
I’m thrilled that Obama put forth a debt reduction bill that aims to address the enormous wealth inequity in this country, as other countries have already started doing. I’d recommend Mother Jones‘ piece on “6 Dumb Arguments Against Taxing the Rich” if you’re having trouble making your case at the dinner table.
From day one with Obama, just as I’m beginning to wonder if it’s officially time to lose faith, he does something to reignite my seemingly unrequited love for him. Let’s hope this left-leaning run keeps plowing forward into the 2012 election season, because if Mitt Romney is our next president, I am legitimately seriously not-just-saying-it-cause-that’s-what-everyone-says moving to Canada.
“no country should deny people their rights because of who they love”
Start at home then Mr President, because the US does exactly that. You know what speaks louder than words? Actions.
How about ordering the IRS to promulgate regulations treating unmarried civil-unioned/domestic-partenered couples as getting the same tax benefits as married couples. DOMA doesn’t prevent that.
Or he could order the military to begin offering a new class of benefits to civil union and domestic partners that are the same as the benefits it offers to legally married spouses.
Just a few ideas…
Speaking as just an outsider looking in (after attending university in Florida for 5 of George W Bush’s 8 year regime), I think he’s done a crap ton more than others have in the past. Yeah I wish he’d pull the decision of allowing gay marriage from the states and make it a federal law, thus solving the tax and immigration issues, but damn, any step forward is a good step, regardless of the size. Any kind of political action and law-reversal/passage takes time and if you’ve got the GOP systematically obstructing and protesting against everything he does, as Riese pointed out in this post, it will take even longer. It’s kinda hard to undo eight years of clusterf**ks in four years time, so kudos to him for even achieving what he has so far. Another four years, who knows what he could accomplish.
right on.. he is owed another term to try to make change. no human being can reasonably be expected to undo eight years of douching around. he isn’t excused for his downfalls, but we do need to remember that he has to “play the game” in order to move forward and get re-elected.
“And no country can realize its potential if half it’s population cannot reach theirs… ”
Sorry, minor detail, but there’s no apostrophe there. It’s not “it is.” It’s possessive.
Oh ye of little faith.
well then i hope mitt romney wins so that canada wins a riese?
Oh, Romney. I remember when you supported gay marriage.
SRSLY? When was this? Did I blink during that split-second or something?
finally! some LGBT support from the president. took long enough…
LGBT? Where did he even mention trans people?
And at that same assembly he rescinded his backing for Palestinian statehood. Don’t be so quick to congratulate this disappointment of a president. Should queers be allowed to marry? Hell the fuck yes! Should the U.S. stop backing an army that is systematically wiping out an occupied nation of displaced and marginalized people? Again, I say, hell the fuck yes. It is merely my opinion, that the latter should take presedence over the former.
I’m waiting for Obama to announce his support of gay marriage. I steadfastly believe he supports it but doesn’t want to say it due to the current political climate.
Here’s a side-by-side comparison of the 13 presidential candidates’ plans for America’s 31 million LGBTs.
http://www.marriageequality.org/Election2012