Subscribe to Breaking NewsRuby-Sachs: Celebration and Caution
For those who pulled up the new whitehouse.gov website on Tuesday and have been staring at the civil rights page with loving, tearful eyes, you are in good company. The transformation from Bush to Obama can’t be expressed adequately. This is a victory in itself. And to have a President come out against DOMA and in favor of the Matthew Shepard Act is stunning. I know that I have had a lighter step since the official transition.
But an article on Politico.com yesterday makes an important point (well, it makes seven points, but I’m focusing on the one I found most convincing). The economy is in trouble, leaving many media sources without adequate funding for correspondents and investigative reporting. At the same time, the Democrats control Congress and the Whitehouse. This creates a decrease in oversight from independent media sources and a decrease in oversight from the political opposition.
Things will likely move fast in this government – at least so far we’ve seen a freeze on political salaries and the closing of Gitmo. Having the numbers to push through legislation will assist, hopefully, a faster recovery for the U.S. economy as well as lending itself to progressive civil rights bills. We might just see the fastest turn around in American history.
But Obama, no matter how much we want to trust him, is one leader amongst a large group of the same old politicians we’ve been criticizing for two years. If he doesn’t have the ability to keep an eye on all earmarks and spending or, god forbid, he chooses to spend unwisely himself, who will be watching?
Most importantly, even if we agree with what the new President is doing, healthy debate is an important legislative tool. It makes the decisions better, but also improves the reasoning behind those decisions and the defense of those decisions in the public eye. We need opposition to become better at doing what we would have done anyway.
I am hopeful about the next four years. But I also wish we had a little more dissent (and a little more money) in the media to ensure that the hopefulness doesn’t lead to blindness.
Well we have Keith Oberman and Rachel Maddow…on the very GOOD CORRECT Right side now. They will gain power from being on the winning side. We need to reinforce them.
And we have GLAAD…hope they get more $$ if they need it (they should get tons from all the closeted gays in the entertainment business!!!)
And supposedly HRC has awakened and wants to be a proper Acitivst Group again….we’ll see about that. If Obama does any of HRC’s Blueprint policy changes we will know he is listenig. If he doesn’t WE WILL SHOUT LOUDER!!!
It’s gonna take $$$ folks to support the noise we want so be prepared.
Good point about the people surrounding Obama, If you look at the last pic with Obama at the desk and a dozen of OLD, WHITE, MALES behind him….
Not to say that is anything wrong with OWM, but some diversity and natural tesotsoteron and estrogen will do great.
Yes, Obama, the man, is indeed well intentioned, if not a bit too churchy for the taste of any intelligent LGBT person who knows the direction from which most of the mud is being slung at us these days. I take issue with those who think throwing money at politicians will impress them into doing the right thing with LGBT rights. Very wrong-headed. Feet (or whole bodies in the case of ACT-UP) on the pavement are the only force which brings government to the table ultimately. There needs to be a GLBT MARCH ON WASHINGTON within the next 2 years. It worked wonders the last time, despite Reagan’s later attempt to drive us all into our graves with AIDS. Giving lots of money to gay politicos does little other than feather their nests. Let them, like other politicos EARN both the money and respect with some more visible signs of hard work, protest and progress.
What’s with the Pepsi logos in the ‘Hope’ banners? Does President Obama have corporate sponsorship?
We’ll I for one am a white gay male who happens to be very proud of my new President and my country again. I can’t express how different it feels to finally have a President I can be proud of. I understand the distrust in our community, after all we’ve been bashed for eight years by the Bush Administration and the neocons, but I’m elated and more than willing to give this President my support. I firmly believe, that in time he will come through for us. GLBT people and our rights have been on his agenda since the beginning of his campaign and unlike the other democrats he mentioned us and our rights in almost every speech.
I can agree with some points in all of the posts i read but, funding the organizations that know things we dont is an important and necessary evil. We also cant leave it up to them alone we need to stay on top of it all make our voices be heard Barack knows what he wants to accomplish and he’s a smart fella but he cant do it alone if we want it badly enough then we have to make it happen