Obama Administration Wins One for Equality

by Trey Rentz, Sat Dec 18, 2010 at 04:11:31 PM EST

 

 Time to party.  Let's face it guys, Obama and this congress have worked as hard as beavers.

Now, it's important that you know I'm a straight guy. And I've gotten into fights about equality with Chris Bowers, and everyone else who wants to just blindly barrel in and try to win something for their side - LGBT issues are always passionate. 

And so, honestly, I know there are a few of you out there who were rubbed the wrong way about my posts back in 2004 and later, 2009 - that say press the brake on this, press the gas on that.  And of course, my support for Obama has never wavered.

 

This is why.  Let's be honest. The only guy who was stopping this legislation was John McCain.  And he always said he'd support it after the Pentagon said it would be a good idea. So the Pentagon finally weighed in a week or so ago, and said that everyone is cool with accepting people in an equal fashion - if you're gay, and willing to lay down your life for this country. It's cool.

So what was McCain doing until now? Waiting for the other shapes to weigh in?

If you think that equality for everyone is a good idea, and you're willing to accept that the right way to really get things done is to be kind of smart about it. You're probably pretty happy today. Way to go, everyone!

 My thinking here is Obama will sign the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell. What do you think?

 

 

 

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19 Comments

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Ghost town

I love kicking around this miserably deserted, tumbleweed infested site these days.  Occasionally, I hear eerie voices float by, mutedly screeching "kool-aid" or "teleprompter" or "fanboy" or "bot."  Sometimes they blame me, personally, for everything that is wrong on this blog, the democratic party, the country, the globe, the galaxy, the universe, the multiverse...   

But this couldn't be sadder.  One of the chief causes about which we supposedly all concur has been achieved.  It's a watershed moment, not just in American politics but in American society.  Integrating the armed forces didn't shoot old Jim Crow down, but it certainly helped.  There are still people organizing to persecute gay school teachers.  Marriage inequality is still the law of the land, reinforced by ugly and dishonest referenda in many states (like mine here in MI).  This is a sorely needed victory.  And here, on this flagship of the netroots...nothing.  Not even a "Hillary would have gotten this done within a month of inauguration" or "Obama was forced to do it and came late to the party as the callow empty suit that he is."  It doesn't even elicit the most ideologically rabid response.

How about Rachel Maddow, who has worked as hard as anyone to hold the proverbial Presidential feet to the proverbial fire on this issue:

It, in fact, was not possible for the President to do this through Executive action. This is something that had to happen legislatively if it was really going to happen in a definitive way.

This is a difficult promise kept. It's not just a promise that was kept. It was one that was hard to keep, that cost a lot of political capital and a lot of work and this is the President's victory today and his base will reward him for it. (you can hear the clip on this satanic diary: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2010/12/18/930091/-Rachel-Maddow:-This-is-the-Presidents-victory-and-his-base-will-reward-him-for-it.)

The President did not waver. He DID work on the Senate to get this to happen. He insisted that this was possible against a lot of people, including me, saying it was not possible.

For those of us invested in issues more than personalities, this is a great day.  The victories don't come easy.  I, for one, am very very pleased.

by Strummerson 2010-12-19 09:54AM | 0 recs
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RE: Ghost town

goddammnitttt!!!!

Will this site ever work right again?  The two lines after the block quote belong in between the two paragraphs inside the box.

What a freaking joke.

by Strummerson 2010-12-19 09:57AM | 0 recs
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You are as clueless as ever

You never disappoint, Strummy, when it comes to cluelessness and naivete. You say "these victories don't come easy." In early 2009, Obama's popularity was almost twice what it is now; trust me, it would have been very easy then, and it wasn't especially hard now.

What's obvious to more astute people is that Obama and his cronies have been holding this in their hip pocket, as a trump card to play when they needed it most---to placate their base. Is it any coincidence that this happened just three days after Obama signed an extension of the Bush tax cuts---something that infuriated his base, and visited turmoil on his party in Congress? You can almost hear him saying: "here is a nice Christmas gift for you, my little sheep; I worked very hard for you on this! Go back to sleep now, and do as Barry says. Nice liberals. Good liberals... sleep..."

That is all DADT repeal ever meant to Obama: not some landmark Civil Rights legislation that the radical left is trying to trumpet. Simply a political ploy to use when his presidency needed it the most, to keep groupies like you on the reservation.

Of course, what is truly despicable is the good people who were discharged under DADT, the military careers that burned while Obama fiddled over the last two years. But this is a craven and foul little man, who cares nothing about average working people---in the military or anywhere else. It's all about him.

 

by BJJ Fighter 2010-12-19 12:53PM | 0 recs
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RE: You are as clueless as ever

You never disappoint BJJ. when it comes to uncivil, condescending, cynical, self-congratulatory jack-assery.  

Your credibility in parsing anything political ends with your Reagan hero worship. 

Why would anyone care what you have to say after that?

by Strummerson 2010-12-19 02:49PM | 0 recs
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As a public service, let me try to educate you

Let's cut to the chase, asshole: the best part of Barack Obama rolled down his daddy's leg one night, forty-some years ago. He's basically just a worthless piece of garbage, which is something I and others have been trying to tell you Obam-orons since the Spring of 2008.

Apparently, little things--- like the loss of 65 House seats---haven't dissuaded you drones from thinking that things are going just swell. Keep drinking the kool-aid, Strummy...maybe after the unemployment rate gets up around 12%, you'll understand a fundamental truth about our incredible shrinking President: you can't send a boy to do a man's job.

 

by BJJ Fighter 2010-12-20 12:44AM | 0 recs
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RE: As a public service, let me try to educate you

Given that your political education begins and ends with reading 259 Reagan biographies, I'll seek my education elsewhere, thank you very much.  And I'll choose not to trust you.  

The major difference between me and you jackass, is that you are totally fixated on personalities, and thus on any narrative that vindicates your heroes and demonizes those you have chosen to hate.  I care about issues.  I care that DADT has been struck down.  You care about hurling insults at me and pissing your vinegar of delusions all over this blog at any given opportunity.

Keep flinging the cliches.  I hope they keep you warm at night.  

The proof in the pudding: You would clearly prefer 12% unemployment to recovery, as that would vindicate your cynical narrative with all of its pretentious claims to being based on fact and wisdom and your own personal authority.  It doesn't matter how many people are hurting.  Keep rooting against recovery.  Keep belittling one politician while deifying others.  Basically every post you have ever written on this blog can be boiled down to: Reagan and Clinton wonderful; Obama very bad.

Maybe you should stop pretending that you know what you are talking about and make a placard.  Formally, you're a tea-thug through and through, just with a weird twist on the content.

Of course, we can turn this all around with one simple act on your part.  Apologize in the name of all Reagan democrats for what he did to this country.

by Strummerson 2010-12-20 08:50AM | 0 recs
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RE: As a public service, let me try to educate you

I think you're in for some disappointment. 

by Drummond 2010-12-23 02:18AM | 0 recs
Coatofarms
RE: You are as clueless as ever

I think you really have to deal in the calculus of exactly how something like this actually gets done. Take a look at Vermont in 2002 - you have a small , fairly cool little state that's got alot of really cool ideas about how to do things. An entire state with less populatin than my own county - that ranks their school system sixth in the US.

 

And so they have a governor that decides equality is the right thing to do. What does he do? he gives it to the legislation,a nd they battle it out. It takes alot of time.

 

There was no way Obama could have timed this. What he did was keep it out of the hands of activist judiciary - put it intot he hands of the legislature and away he went.

 

It was done , now, probably because he played hardball with the taxcuts.

by Trey Rentz 2010-12-19 05:33PM | 0 recs
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"hardball" with the tax cuts?

Obama didn't play hardball on the tax cuts, or anything else during the last two years, for that matter.....because he doesn't know how to be tough. (Hint: can you spell "wuss"?)  Bottom line, he got his butt handed to him by the Senate Minority Leader, and capitulated on just about everything he promised during the 2008 campaign.

Try counting the number of times Obama promised to roll back the Bush tax cuts, and maybe you'll start to understand. For you to suggest that he played "hardball" on this issue---after promising to do the exact opposite if elected---may be the most idiotic comment ever posted on myDD....or anywhere, for that matter.

 

by BJJ Fighter 2010-12-20 12:09AM | 0 recs
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RE: "hardball" with the tax cuts?

I dare you to post something vaguely resembling a civil disagreement.  Try and write something devoid of any ad hominem toward any poster or politician.  Can you do it?

I'm betting the answer is no.

All you do is come here and spew bile.  It's tired already.  You're like some deluded old man screaming crap from his front porch.  Who cares?

by Strummerson 2010-12-20 08:53AM | 0 recs
Coatofarms
RE: "hardball" with the tax cuts?

Hon. Mr. Strummerson. You are posting reply a denizen of the net who has chosen a handle for himself that roughly equates to " blowjob fighter".

My advice:

Don't. feed .the. salmon.


 

by Trey Rentz 2010-12-20 10:41AM | 0 recs
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RE: "hardball" with the tax cuts?

Fair enough.  I'll certainly respect your wishes as the diarist.  Thanks for posting the ONLY diary discussing this important event on this site.  

Sad that it hasn't provoked more interesting discussion.  For instance, where do we rank the fight for marriage equality in our progressive priorities?  What will the FRC do to strike back?  Where does this fit into a measured analysis of this congress's accomplishments and the first 2 years of the Obama presidency (which I see as mixed)?

It's really pretty sad.

 

by Strummerson 2010-12-20 11:36AM | 0 recs
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RE: "hardball" with the tax cuts?

Notice you didn't reply to the ass-kicking I gave you. So try again, and explain your assinine comment: tell us how Obama was "playing hardball on tax cuts", when all he did was capitulate to GOP demands to extend the Bush era tax rates. After promising for the last three years that he would "roll back" those tax cuts....

Dismembering your arguments is the only fun left on this site.....that and mauling poor little Strummy when he gets out of line.

 

by BJJ Fighter 2010-12-20 06:52PM | 0 recs
Shadow_head_small
RE: "hardball" with the tax cuts?

Ouch!!!

by Strummerson 2010-12-20 09:54PM | 0 recs
Shadow_head_small
RE: You are as clueless as ever

Well there's a cheerful viewpoint. 

by Drummond 2010-12-23 02:19AM | 0 recs
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Maybe Rachel can cheer you up

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dp72GktZi00

by Drummond 2010-12-23 02:21AM | 0 recs
Coatofarms
I just like the fact our government is actually working

72% of Americans wanted healthcare reform. And we've got it.

60% of our fighting forces say they'd be happy to see don't ask don't tell repealed, and we've got it.

Laws and sausages are two things that should never be seen being made.

The issue was how to get this beast and many other beastly beasts of legislation passed. it is absolutely no coincidence that extremely difficult and complicated legislation has been delivered over the past year. Obama has been in business for a year and a half, now, going on two.  He's gotten more done than anyone I can remember.

For me, this policy was more about acceptance and simplicity of society than it was , something tugging at my heartstrings. As long as a fellow is a good shot , I'm not terribly concerned whether or not he's got tattoos, a high school education, or a boyfriend.
We have soldiers to kill the bad guys, generals to make sure the soldiers are in the right place to kill them, and a government that should be of the people, by the people and for the people -to determine if and when we have to play the war card and who will be dealt against.  So , over the past eight years of bush republicans, we've had wars of convenience, bizarro policy changes and just a long list of extremely wasteful policies..

As of today, if you are a lesbian, and you want to join the navy -  you are welcome to talk your girlfriend into signing up with you. If you're a devil dog marine and you have been gay ever since you can remember, you can take your partner to the christmas party.  If you are a three star general and in the closet, you can come out.

And for me, as a straight guy - and a taxpayer - I can happily know that my government is actually all about work right now

Think about it. A lame duck session that passes groundbreaking legislation. And a full on session , junior past- that rewrote the books on financial regulation, and healthcare. I like it.

 

by Trey Rentz 2010-12-19 05:26PM | 0 recs
Coatofarms
RE: I just like the fact our government is actually working

P.S. I shudder to think of a world without a girl on girl scene.

 

by Trey Rentz 2010-12-19 05:29PM | 0 recs
Shadow_head_small
Cool post

But where are all the anti-Obama posters who hang on this site?  Are they on vacation?

by Drummond 2010-12-23 02:16AM | 0 recs

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