Obama Needs to End Silence on Biggest Civil Rights Move of Our Time

[jefferson_dem]

Clemons expresses what I believe is President Obama's greatest ... only significant disappointment so far. I trust he will do the right thing.

Steve Clemons
Obama Needs to End Silence on Biggest Civil Rights Move of Our Time

<SNIP>

But there needs to be equal time for some of the victims of this cozy relationship between the oval office and anti-gay religious adherents.

Same sex marriages are now a real part of the scene too -- something allowed in the enormous state of California for a short time until the day that Barack Obama himself was elected nationally and won the California vote.

Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maine, and Iowa are the five leading states that endorse and provide for same sex marriages. New York, Washington DC, and Hawaii recognize these marriages. And New Hampshire is likely to be the sixth state to provide for same sex marriages.

Eventually, California will be back in the same sex marriage column.

This is happening as the weeks unfold -- and President Barack Obama has said NOTHING.

Yesterday, White House spokesperson Robert Gibbs had an exchange with ABC's Jake Tapper:

"No, I think the president's position on same-sex marriage is -- has been talked about and discussed," Gibbs curtly replied.

"He opposes same-sex marriage?" Tapper asked.

"He supports civil unions," Gibbs said, not really answering the question.

Obama is basically ducking the issue for the time being -- voting the proverbial "present" without indicating support or opposition as he basks in Oval Office power -- present, there, watching -- but doing nothing.

For him, it's a states rights issue -- not a civil rights issue at the federal level.

I can't quite believe that our first African-American President is sitting this one out -- but I do get the politics of it, to a point. What I don't get is his withdrawal from other key gay community issues.

What is directly in Obama's purview -- as not only a federal issue but one directly linked to the office he holds -- is the "don't ask, don't tell" order regarding discrimination against gays in the US military. Obama promised during his campaign to end this hypocrisy that leads to the expulsion of a full brigade a year from the armed services. Those thrown out are qualified men and women who are replaced in part by those needing criminal file "moral waivers."

In fact, Aaron Belkin points out that Obama is about to preside as Commander-in-Chief over his national security bureacracy's first firing of a gay Arab linguist.

Obama's position of total silence on this fast and historic expansion of gay marriage rights could be offset if he finally asked the Joint Chiefs of Staff to conduct a new impact study of what gays in the military (and they are in the military if anyone cared to look -- in very, very large numbers) would do to "morale."

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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/steve-clemons/obama-needs-to-end-silenc_b_199241.html

[MADem]

1. I don't understand the surprise, myself. He pretty much signaled that he was going to

"sit this one out." And in case people didn't get it, he dragged in McClurkin and Caldwell (minister to GWB, marryer of Jenna and her beau, and "pray away the gay"-er) to drive the point home. He's not really voting present--he's voting "Er....no. Not now, anyway."

That was the one thing that turned me off his candidacy, initially--that whole "Gospel Tour" stuff with those two hating preachers. I found it OTT.

I think yelling at Obama isn't going to do much good. The way to push the issue at the federal level is to topple over the states, one by one. When "We, The People" speak, the federal government has to listen. And until "We, the People" speak, and make it clear that all of us think this is, in fact, a civil rights issue, he's just not going to regard it as such.

I know that's not what people want to hear, but that's my view of his approach to the matter.

[rucky]

2. There's nothing federal coming up that I know.

This has all been state action. Besides the military issue - which he should absolutely act on - what do we want Obama to do?

I'm not saying he shouldn't do anything - I think we need a specific list of demands.

[zipplewrath]

4. Not exactly "demands"

Call them "possibilities" to stake out an active position.

1. Warren. Admit he was wrong.
2 DADT. Start now. Suspend investigations/removals in the meantime.
3 Defense of Marriage Act. Modify it to allow feds to recognize state sactioned marriages.
4 How about a couple more, higher profile, members of the community. Ambassadorships?
5 How about just acknowledging that the states are moving forward and this is a hopeful trend?

He doesn't have to do all of them. Just do SOMETHING. He's done basically nothing other than most superficial of actions like the Easter festival and inaugral parade. He can look the other way about torture, but he can't find a way to keep gays in the military?

[Dawgs]

5. Agree (sort of)

1) You are correct. He should admit Warren was a mistake. My guess is that he will acknowledge this someday; maybe after his Presidency.
2) DADT is a law, and Obama is not King. Suspending this law would be the kind of thing Bush would do, which is wrong.
3) Disagree. It's too political. The slow recognition by the states is already steamrolling across the country.
4) I think it's unfair to ask him to appoint people based on their sexual preference, and not who's the most qualified.
5) Agree. He needs to make a comment of support.

[MannyGoldstein]

3. What if the CEO of Goldman Sachs was Gay?

Might be a whole new ballgame. Perhaps we can all buy shares in Goldman Sachs, then force a new CEO?

[Orsino]

6. Obama ran for the presidency of a profoundly conservative country...

...and said what he had to say to win the presidency.

It's unfortunate and hypocritical, but I get it. He knows he couldn't have run on a platform of equality, but believes greater liberty to be within reach. He has taken himself out of the fight for same-sex marriage, as did most of his opponents, but may be opening doors that the rest of us can exploit in further victories.

If we do our part, he can always flip-flop later on, emphasizing that his opposition was always based on personal convictions and that he is willing to let Congress and the courts decide the issue.

When the battle's won, we may still have to thank President Obama for the huge coalition he built that made victory more possible.