The View From Washington: Obama (and HRC) Continues to Disappoint

I certainly have not minced my words as to how I feel about Barack Obama, a/k/a the Liar-in-Chief and his huge FAIL in terms of advancing LGBT equality under the law. We've had plenty of talk but no action on the big ticket items on which he campaigned: DADT, DOMA and ENDA. The appointment of more gays to positions than prior presidents equates to what Pam Spaulding calls Cinderella Crumbs. Sure, they're nice, but for most of us they have ZERO practical impact on our lives. As I have noted before, here in Virginia my lack of full equality under the law has not changed whatsoever for the better. Indeed, one could argue that the failure of Obama and the Congressional Democrats to deliver on promises set the stage for Democrat malaise last year that ushered in the election of Bob "Taliban Bob" McDonnell and Ken "Kookinelli" Cuccinelli. In two days, the same may be the case in the 2nd Virginia congressional district if gay-hate group endorsed Scott Rigell defeats Glenn Nye (with the behind the scenes help of the Virginian Pilot). And Obama thinks I should be appreciative of his efforts? WTF is he smoking? Kerry Eleveld has a piece at the Advocate that looks at the less than wonderful president Obama has proven to be for LGBT Americans. She also gets in a good shot at HRC. Here are some highlights:
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I usually refrain from saying much about how the national LGBT groups acquit themselves because I generally find finger-pointing only serves as a counterproductive distraction from the most critical tasks at hand. But quite frankly, watching some of them at the federal level over the past two years has been a lesson in political malpractice that has left me ill and speechless more times than I care to count.
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While the president’s marriage pronouncements were encouraging, many of his other comments regarding LGBT issues were puzzling, to say the least. After AmericaBlog’s Joe Sudbay — the gay contingent at the interview — expressed disappointment at the pace of progress on equality advances, Obama rebuffed the sentiment.
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It’s difficult to know exactly where to start and stop with this statement, but at its core, it’s completely devoid of empathy and certainly borders on arrogant. We’ve had a string of signs that this president just doesn’t have any LGBT advisers close enough to him to serve as a reality check for the mood of the community — this statement is just one more glaring example.
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Touting his credentials as the most supportive president in history on LGBT issues is tantamount to taking credit for being the beneficiary of a natural progression of the culture. Attitudes evolve, as Obama said.
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[H]ere’s the scorecard on the big ticket items he campaigned on. In front of mainstream audiences, the president ran on repeal of DADT and, in front of LGBT audiences, he lumped in Defense of Marriage Act repeal and passing the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. He has been “vocal” enough on DADT with his mention in the State of the Union address to essentially put those wheels in motion, but he has not come anywhere close to employing the full might of his bully pulpit on ENDA or DOMA.
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And lest we forget, Obama's DOJ is defending BOTH DADT and DOMA in federal court. He is clearly NOT our fierce advocate by any means.