To give credit where credit is due

[dsc]

I am very glad to hear Obama state that Congress needs to pass some laws and that he will work with them in the removal of DOMA and the passage of ENDA. If he follows through, then great. I admit I was pleasantly surprised that he brought his up at the signing of the memo. It is a small but positive step.

[Captain Hilts]

1. Yes. nt

[babylonsister]

2. Nice of you. I agree, it's a positive first step, and more to come. nt

[vaberella]

3. Uh, he's been saying this since January. Am I the only one who heard him?

Most of what Obama has said today or in the last few days are things he's said before in regards to LGBT rights and no one has bothered to listen. To me he's just repeating himself---however he is being more candid on what he's been trying to accomplish behind the scenes. But then there are hundreds of things he's been working on behind the scenes that no one has been in an uproar about, as of yet. When there is a new outrage I'm sure information will come out that things were already in progress to address said issue, whatever it may be.

[dsc]

4. Oh really?

I want to see one, just one, citation of Obama, not a spokesman but Obama saying any of this anywhere other than a fundraiser or other audience of gay people.

[vaberella]

6. K, give me a minute. n/t

[vaberella]

9. The first is below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z05VyCwObtg

The second one is I guess what you would call a spokesperson. So yeah, I think you weren't paying attention and I was. However that may not be sufficient for you:

https://www.washblade.com/2009/5-15/news/national/14517.cfm

-http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/promise/290/push-for-enactment-of-matthew-shepard-act-which-e/

President Barack Obama issued a statement in support on April 28, 2009:

"This week, the House of Representatives is expected to consider H.R. 1913, the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009. I urge members on both sides of the aisle to act on this important civil rights issue by passing this legislation to protect all of our citizens from violent acts of intolerance — legislation that will enhance civil rights protections, while also protecting our freedom of speech and association. I also urge the Senate to work with my Administration to finalize this bill and to take swift action."

The bill passed the House on a vote of 249-175 the day after Obama's statement. As of this writing, the bill is awaiting consideration in the Senate.The House bill was not named the Matthew Shepard Act, but it is identical to a Senate bill that uses the name, said Rachel Balick, a spokeswoman for the Human Rights Campaign, a gay rights advocacy group that supports the bill.

The administration appears to be strongly supporting the bill, Balick said.

"Definitely the statement was a huge show of support and we're glad to see it," she said.

The Senate must pass the bill before it becomes law, but Obama's promise here was limited to supporting the effort. Obama's statement is a significant show of support, so we rate this Promise Kept.

http://www.advocate.com/news_detail_ektid84965.asp <---not him persay but people who met with him.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ly1gesM_Hsw

Hope some of this helps. To me they are all reflections of him saying he's looking to repeal DOMA and DADT with things that are publicly available. I don't know what you need or want. It seems that if he doesn't follow a certain format or do it a certain way then he doesn't pass muster. To me he was repeating himself endlessly since has said all this in the past---during the primaries, after the election and during his Presidency. You seem to want him to do it in a certain venue----which I find thoroughly ridiculous and petty. That's like telling someone to pronounce the letter A--Ay and not Ah---because it's not to your liking. At this point many people are turning into McCaskill's, if it doesn't meet my requirements then it's not good enough and therefore President Obama did not follow procedure.

[dsc]

11. spoken as a non minority

We are very used to getting played by having candidates say one thing to us and something else to the majority audience. The fact is that the only way these laws will pass is if he uses his bully pulpit to make the case to the straight majority. You can call that petty till the cows come home and give birth to aliens but that won't change the facts.

[vaberella]

20. I'm a non-minority?! Thank you for proving that I don't have to waste my time on you.

Assumptions...people love to make them without a clue. Thanks. Not to mention I don't know why you needed three different posts...but that's whatever now. Enjoy your life.

[dsc]

31. I looked at your profile

your image is white and your gender female. That makes you a non minority. Oh and on the post issue. I don't like to edit posts substantively since if a person responds to a post and then I edit adding facts it makes them look like they didn't read the post. Sorry that offended you so. Of course, I suspect your real problem is you got caught making crap up.

[vaberella]

33. More shit from you? You realize the more you talk the more you back yourself into a corner.

Stupidity that I've never seen before---this makes me sick. You're a prize of epic proportions.

[dsc]

12. Your first clip is from November of 08 and quotes him only from the campaign

in short it is wholly irrelevent as we were specificly talking about January till now.

[dsc]

13. To give a recap

Your first clip is from the campaign, your last clip is of a spokesman, he met with Judy Shepard for one, count it one minute, and a written statement which may or may not have been from him. And you have the nerve to wonder why I don't think he has taken any kind of public role in regards to these laws. Remember this was the best you could come up with and supposedly I wasn't paying attention to his repeated public statements. I think the words you are looking for are "I'm sorry, you were right".

[Clio the Leo]

17. So he has renegade spokespeople running around saying things..

.... that he doesn't agree with?

Why does it matter if a spokesperson said it? (serious question, not an argument)

[dsc]

19. because spokesman's statements can be walked back

as being an error by the spokesperson, that happens all the time.

[Clio the Leo]

22. And there's evidence that this has happened in this matter?

(and this is cracking me up because I feel like I'm having this conversation with Howard Dean)

[dsc]

32. Yes there is

and it is provided in the post with all the links that supposedly help Obama. His spokesman, Gibbs, gave a one word answer to the question of whether DADT would be repealed, yes. Since then, we have had the Sec of Defense, the Chair of the Joint Chiefs, and Gibbs himself, state that it would be at least until 2010 before it happened.

[Clio the Leo]

35. But I dont understand how ...........

... clarifying a time line is the same as walking something back?

Anyway, I meant to tell you last night, you DID start this thread off by thanking the President and calling the memo a step in the right direction. I have a feeling like you will continue to be pleasantly surprised as time goes on. ;)

[Clio the Leo]

15. In his own hand he wrote that he would work to repeal DADT....

... IN HIS OWN HAND he made a promise to a member of the armed forces.

IN HIS OWN FUCKING HAND!!!

(sorry for the vulgarity but I'm getting pissy over this)

People can question his timing ... they cannot question his sincerity.

He talks in "Dreams" ... written long before he ran for office ... about how his family raised him to be frank and to be a man of his word. So either he meant what he wrote in the book ... or he wrote what he did as a part of some great master plan to mindscew people into voting for him 17 years later. It's up to each one of us to decide which is the truth.

He's a politican ... but he's not a bull-shitter.

[dsc]

18. and where is the recipient of that letter, hint not in the armed forces

Obama could have, under stop loss powers he already possesses, stopped that discharge, he chose not to. That action speaks vastly louder than his words do.

[Clio the Leo]

21. So even when he says it, it still doesn't count?

I love ya DSC, but I'm getting the distinct impression that you'll never be satisfied. ;)

[dsc]

34. not when that very person

has done to her what Obama claimed he opposed, but chose not to stop. Sorry but actions do tend to speak louder than words.

[merh]

5. FYI

June 17, 2009
Categories: White House
Rosen: Obama will restate DOMA opposition, back Lieberman Baldwin

P.R. exec Hillary Rosen, plugged in on gay rights issues, told me just now that President Obama will use tonight's presidential memorandum extending federal benefits to reassert his broader support for gay rights, repeating his support for repealing the Defense of Marriage Act and pushing Congress to back legislation offering more substantial benefits, like health care, to same-sex partners.

"They're demonstrating that they're going on the benefits side as far as they can administratively and laying a path for congress to follow. The things that they're announcing will actually help people," she said. "He's saying these families matter."

Rosen and others said it's still unclear whether Obama will mention "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

White House personnel director John Barry declined to comment on what Obama will say today on a conference call this afternoon, but made the case for the legislation by noting how broadly accepted partner benefits are in the private sector.

more @ http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0609/Rosen_Obama_will_restate_DOMA_opposition_back_Lieberman_Baldwin.html

[dsc]

7. I trusted the NYT over Politco, this time it was a bad idea

but usually it works out. I am glad that Obama actually did plug those bills.

[merh]

8. I have a hard time trusting any of them.

I still hope people follow Plaid Adder's lead and send letters to Obama.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x5868023

Folks need to keep up the pressure, let him know that this won't go away until equal rights are guaranteed to all.

[ecstatic]

10. Well, I tend to listen to Obama himself rather than reading someone's

opinion of what was said. And as vabrella said, Obama's been saying the same thing all along. It's shocking to me that you could be surprised. It means you have never taken the time to listen to him.

[Clio the Leo]

14. It's like this.....

.... that whole event today was for the sole purpose of answering criticism re: this matter.

He's not going to make a point of vowing to work to repeal DOMA if he didn't mean it. That was part of a prepared statement. It wasn't like it was an answer to a question from the press.

He would not have brought it up if it wasn't his honest intention to get it repealed. LISTEN to how he said it. He emphatically mentioned every syllable of "we are going to work to o-ver-turn it!"

He's an a-typical President ... he's an atypical politician. If he says he's going to work to do something, then he's going to work to do something.

Period.

[alcibiades_mystery]

16. I like that Obama throws to Congress stuff that is the domain of Congress

yes, the president has a bully pulpit, and can exert much more pressure than he has. I'm glad the activists and others are making him get out there and exert the pressure. But this is an issue for Congress, and Obama will need our help in getting the Congress off it's craven ass to repeal the awful DOMA and strike down the public law that authorizes DADT. More pressure on Obama to use the bully pulpit, and more pressure on Congress to get it done. This shit is regressive, embarrassing, and wrong. And Congress can end the nonsense inside of two months. They damn well should.

[vaberella]

23. I think he's always been exerting that pressure. Just not publicly like everyone is seeing with

Health care or stimulus bill. It's not until the stuff gets major attention by the media with disgruntled people that it becomes "noticeable" that Obama is or will be or has been working on something. Note that the memorandum for benefits was in the works for months. So I think that there can be pressure that is not public. People just want to see it public because it makes them believe it's getting done. If it's not public then it's not getting done. This is really the problem.

It's like the whole see it to believe it. So it's not sufficient that he's doing something without us knowing publicly about it. I don't even want to know the hundreds of things he has the departments working on that is not public and when there is a new need for an outrage then more information will seep out to dispel those statements.

This is really what the problem is.

[Clio the Leo]

25. Pressure? On the Congress? Pressure?

Pressure?



On the congress?



Are you sure?



What do you mean by Pressure?



What KIND of pressure are you referring to?


(look ma! No lipstick!)

'cause there's different kinds of Pressure....



So you think Obama's using pressure on the Congress that we dont know about...


(please take a brief moment to behold that THAT sexy neck belongs to the President of the United States of America)

... you may have a point.





(Ok, now I'm gonna go do the Biden version of this ..... trust me, it'll be HOT!!!!)

[vaberella]

26. +1...Good God. If I couldn't adore you more...you made my appreciation skyrocket.

:yourock:

[Clio the Leo]

27. Well, just be sure and remember your pal Clio....

... when the black finally takes over! ;)

[SemiCharmedQuark]

24. It's a small step, but in the right direction at least. We'll have to see how it goes.

[Lord Helmet]

28. Tammy Baldwin was happy.

[Clio the Leo]

29. and the dude who was on Countdown tonight....

... didn't seem overly upset either. Love how KO tried to corner him and he just kept saying, "The President is doing all he can do!"

[bluedawg12]

30. It's a start. The Domestic Partners Benefits and Obligations Act

This would be nice if Congress got moving.

"I am also proud to announce my support for an important piece of legislation introduced in both Houses of Congress last month -- the Domestic Partners Benefits and Obligations Act of 2009. This legislation will extend to the same-sex partners of Federal employees the same benefits already enjoyed by the opposite-sex spouses of Federal employees. The legislation has a number of co-sponsors in both Houses of Congress, but among those many sponsors, I want to recognize one in particular -- Representative Tammy Baldwin, who has been a real leader on this issue, and more broadly on the LGBT struggle for equality. Representative Baldwin, I look forward to working with you to achieve the important objectives set out in this bill as it moves through the legislative process. I also look forward to working with the bill's Senate champions, Senators Lieberman and Collins; I know that they will approach this process with the same spirit of cooperation in pursuit of our shared goals that they bring to all of their work in the Senate. - President Obama."