David Mixner lets Barney have it

In the loving, gentle way that only David can :-) Read More...

HRC: Obama gets until 2017 to keep his promises, and don't criticize him until then

Joe and I are both speechless. This come from HRC president Joe Solmonese's weekly update:

But what has he [Obama] done?

I've written that we have actually covered a good deal of ground so far. But I'm not going to trot out those advances right now because I have something more relevant to say: It's not January 19, 2017.

That matters for two reasons: first, the accomplishments that we've seen thus far are not the Obama Administration's record. They are the Administration's record so far....

I am sure of this: on January 19, 2017, I will look back on the President's address to my community as an affirmation of his pledge to be our ally. I will remember it as the day when we all stood together and committed to finish what Senator Kennedy called our unfinished business. And I am sure of this: on January 19, 2017, I will also look back on many other victories that President Barack Obama made possible.

Maybe somebody should ask the 6,000 gay and lesbian service members, discharged between now and 2017, how they feel about that. Maybe we should ask Dan Choi. And Victor Fehrenbach.

I like HRC, I've repeatedly defended HRC when others have been far less kind. But this is not the kind of thing a gay civil rights group writes - it's the kind of thing a White House badly in need of political cover writes for you. It's the kind of thing that someone who doesn't have to worry about getting kicked out of the military would write. Someone who doesn't care about getting married. And, it's the kind of thing someone who is more concerned about image and connections would write.

It is simply astonishing from an organization that is supposed to be dogging this president to secure our civil rights. You don't telegraph that it's okay for him to wait until 2017 to keep his promises. That is, if he gets re-elected, if we still control the Congress, if we're not having more "distracting" wars, if it's not a close election...

Good Lord. Read More...

What did Gloria Borger know when she said of DADT: "Not ready, not now, not going to happen"?

This past weekend, on CNN's State of the Union, Obama's National Security Adviser Jim Jones addressed the issue of repealing Don't Ask, Don't Tell. It wasn't good.

In the follow-up discussion on Jones' comments among the CNN talking heads, Gloria Borger, was adamant, just adamant, that Obama will not work on the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

HENRY: Absolutely. And it's interesting how the White House, when you talk about, is he taking on too much on with health care or something? They'll say, no, no, he doesn't have too much on his plate. He's got big issues he has to handle. There are certain issues though that they don't think really rise to the level.

I think one reason and politically it will be very risky and I'll make your prediction that they're not going to do anything on this probably until after the 2010 midterms because, A, General Jones is right, they do have a lot on your plate, and B, you do something like that in early 2010, if you punt it now and do it at 2010, fire up the conservative Republican base before the midterm elections, I don't think so.

BORGER: Not a good idea. Not ready, not now, not going to happen.

JOHNS: There's a military culture that tends to resist it. There's also a lot of people out there in the gay and lesbian community who supported this president because they thought he was going to take on their issues. He has to stand back and a lot of people say simply because he has got too many big things that will get the country distracted. And the distraction, you're right, can go right through the midterms.

BORGER: To help his moderate conservative Democrats win reelection, he wants to give them talking points that will work with their constituents. I think that's a concern.

HENRY: What might be counterintuitive is that you see more and more states across the country signing on to same-sex marriage. You wonder whether some of the old ideological -- whether that's not so true anymore. And that's part of the reason why on the left he's getting a lot of pressure from the supporters saying it's not the same culture and climate that you had in 1993 with Bill Clinton.

HENRY: Even President Clinton came out, who signed the defense of marriage act, came out and said he thinks it should be up to the states, it shouldn't be a federal law.

BORGER: It may happen eventually but not right now.

Here's my question: How does Gloria Borger know this? It is her intuition? Actually, sounds more like someone told her something, doesn't it?

Borger lives in the D.C. bubble. In the real world, the public supports the repeal of DADT. And, last week, the Pentagon's top journal printed an article calling for the repeal of the law. But, to Borger and many of her ilk, "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" is nothing but a dangerous political issue. She's completely buying into some Democrat's political homophobia. And, it sure looks like some top administration official fed her the lines. That really sucks. Read More...

My take on Obama's appearance at HRC dinner

This is just a short excerpt, you can read my entire piece over at Huff Post.

President Obama will speak Saturday night at the Human Rights Campaign national dinner. His appearance at the biggest, and most important, gay political event of the year reflects the White House's recognition that many in the gay community are disappointed, if not feeling outright betrayed, by the President's lack of progress on various gay civil rights campaign promises.

The big question in gay-land is what will Obama say. I fear the answer is: Not much.

As someone who supported Barack Obama early on during the primaries, and raised nearly $50,000 for him during the campaign, it gives me no pleasure to burst the pink champagne bubbles of hope. But President Obama's track record on keeping his gay promises has been fairly abominable. Not only has he failed to move the ball forward on any of his top campaign promises to our community, but he has actually moved us backwards on issues such as DOMA, which he once called "abhorrent," but now defends in court (even though he doesn't have to). One step forward on minor issues and two steps back on major ones does not a fierce advocate make.

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SLDN wants a timeline for repeal of DADT from Barack Obama

Dan Choi and Aubrey Sarvis from SLDN were on CNN this morning talking Don't Ask, Don't Tell. It's October and the President has talked about repealing DADT, but sure has shown any leadership. And, it's BS to say the president has a lot on his plate. No kidding. He's the president. But, Dan Choi doesn't think that means we should wait. Nor do I.


Note to John Roberts: It's 2009, not 1993. Read More...

Anderson Cooper examined Obama's record on LGBT issues

Anderson is "keeping them honest." Richard Socarides and Pam Spaulding both weigh in on the lack of concrete action from the Obama administration:
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