Associated Press: Gay voters angry at Democrats could sway election — Page 5

Interesting that Obama stopped by to convey to the participants his "personal" commitment to the repeal of DADT.

His "personal" commitment as opposed to his "professional" commitment. More of his bullsh*t.

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Updated On: 10/27/10 at 09:50 AM

He's talking to you! And to me! And to all of us who dare criticize the greatness of Our Fierce Advocate!!!!

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Folks....

It's about re-election.....if Obama thought that he could win the election by announcing a Federal Amendment Outlawing Marriage Equality, he'd be announcing it in a press conference right now.

Fortunately for Gays and Lesbians, the backlash against him would be tremendous.

They have crunched the numbers and determined that it's worth alienating a portion of the Gay and Lesbian voters in order to insure that they maintain support in other areas.

Once all the data has been massaged, Gay and Lesbian voters are expendable.

Face it...the Democrats have determined that they don't need our votes, our volunteer hours, or our donations.

They will, however, be more than glad to blame us if Obama loses the election. We make might fine scapegoats.

Hard to disagree with, Windy, and an even darker picture than I'd have imagined. Our upcoming scapegoating for the Republican takeover of Congress won't be pretty at all. If we thought we'd been tossed under the bus in the first two years of Obama's administration, we ain't seen nothing yet.

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Fair enough. But apart from the scapegoating bit, I still agree with the rest of it.

Your memory is inaccurate. The gay community did not shrug. There were organized responses to DOMA. If there were slick social networking interfaces in 1996 like there are 14 years later, you would have seen the same swift responses to Clinton's signing of DOMA as you have seen here.

I'm not sure why you take comfort in notions like things like "this happened before under whatever president/this is nothing new". That in fact illustrates why the patience of many people has run out. People do reach their limits. People do finally have enough.

Listening to Obama argue flatly on the Daily Show last night that there has been no administration in history that has blah blah blah gay community blah blah blah seems to me that he too, is missing the same point you are, Joe. Nobody has been very good before him and many of us were fooled into thinking Obama would set the bar much higher.

I agree with Windy City Actor's analysis. That is why I am going to urge him to run for President in the Crisco Oil Party. I'll be his undersecretary.

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So the gay community voted Dole in 1996? I don't know how I missed that. I guess I was attending too many gay fundraisers for Bill Clinton to notice.

Really, it's not either/or. BOTH things can be true. People were pissed off at Clinton's DOMA signing AND held their noses while they voted to reelect him. They didn't just shrug and give him the benefit of the doubt the way you're suggesting. Nor did they work to see he didn't get reelected.

Recently, people may have been lead to believe they wouldn't have to do that anymore and are understandably angry that they are STILL expected to disconnect their feelings from their vote.

But that's the way it is and it's obviously not going to change.

Years ago I had a conversation with Bob Hattoy, not long after he became chairman of the Presidential Commission on HIV/AIDS under Bill Clinton. Hattoy was an HIV positive gay man. I asked him what it was like, dealing with Clinton. We as a community had been used to being used as punching bags by Reagan and GHW Bush. I asked Hattoy what happens with the anger now? He explained it was very difficult to get in Clinton's face with horror stories about life with HIV in order to get him to understand, because, where the previous administrations ignored such voices, Clinton's eyes would well up with tears and he'd hug you and say, "I feel your pain."

Since Obama seems completely incapable of expressing or even feigning empathy on the DOMA and DADT issues, and instead responds with wonky statements that begin with "Look, ..." and then go on to suggest that things are not as bad as gay and lesbian people feel they are... well, he shows how he's no Bill Clinton.

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...Clinton's eyes would well up with tears and he'd hug you and say, "I feel your pain."

David Mixner said almost the exact same thing about Clinton.

Reminds me of Travolta in Primary Colors when he made up the story about his uncle and started crying.

Don't you think Clinton would have been able to do things differently if he were president NOW? I guess I am a fool to think that public opinion has shifted enough. Truly, it shouldn't matter WHAT the public opinion is. Equality is a basic human right. I am so tired of even thinking about this. I left the US to be with my wife. Because of immigration policies, her coming to the US wasn't an option. We didn't have a choice. I am thisclose to saying, "Screw it! Everybody head for greener pastures."

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Ah, I finally understand- It's the lack of feigned empathy everyone is so pissed about!

"You know, God's in the mix" is the phrase that I wish he had never said, because that was essentially a promise to black Christian groups and white Christian groups that he would never, ever, ever support marriage for gays.

Because if you believe in something religiously, you can't just go back on it without having your faith called into question.

And with tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands believing he still practices the Muslim faith of his father and step-father, he can't afford to have his Christian faith questioned.

"I believe that marriage is the union between a man and a woman. Now, for me as a Christian, it's also a sacred union. You, know, God's in the mix."
--Candidate Barack Obama, August 2008

Frankly, I think he was lying when he said that then, and I think he was lying yesterday. I think he really doesn't give a crap whether gay people marry each other or not.

But because there are more of them than there are of us, I don't think he'll ever take back that lie and change his position.

All because he was stupid enough (or craven enough) to put God in the goddamn mix.

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F*ck empathy. Empathy is for pussies. I want results.

Obama will follow the traditional route for highly placed politicians: only support gay rights when you're not in a position to do anything about it.

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