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May 19, 2013
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 Hope and Hesitation in Obama’s Sudden ConversionPosted on May 10, 2012
Once again President Barack Obama has come tantalizingly close to being terrific. But his failure of courage on the gay marriage issue, in the end, undermined the point he hoped to make Wednesday. As with his prior rhetorical flashes of principle in denouncing torture, commiserating with the victims of Wall Street fraud and resolving to end unjustifiable wars, he quickly waffled and the result was a continuation of that which is fundamentally wrong. There is only one essential point to be made about gay marriage: To acknowledge one’s own sexual being and to define the relationships that follow is a basic human right. How dare anyone intrude on a life choice that is not his to make for others? Whether the president’s family knows gay couples who are monogamous and nice to their children has no more to do with the issue than the old argument of enlightened racists in the American South that there were many fine Negroes who were not at all uppity. Uppity as in the case of gays who were not satisfied with Obama’s prior endorsement of civil unions: “I had hesitated on gay marriages in part because I thought that civil unions would be sufficient.” As in knowing your place and being content with the bone you are tossed rather than demanding the full meal you’re entitled to. There is enormous condescension in Obama’s assertion that “I’ve always been adamant that gay and lesbian Americans should be treated fairly and equally.” He had not been adamant enough to push for an amendment to the Civil Rights Act to end discrimination based on sexual orientation. Nor did he issue an executive order banning government agencies from contracting with businesses guilty of such discrimination. Surely one could not have always been in favor of fairness and equality and yet succumbed to pressure from those who claimed that allowing gays to marry was somehow ungodly. “I was sensitive to the fact that for a lot of people, the word ‘marriage’ was something that invokes very powerful traditions and religious beliefs,” Obama told us, as if sensitivity is admirable when the bigots hide behind cultural norms. Advertisement No, what you don’t do is selectively cite Scripture to justify denying basic freedoms to your fellow citizens. That’s precisely why our federal Constitution bans the governmental establishment of any religion. Failure to insist on an inviolable freedom for all Americans is the key weakness in the position that Obama stated in his carefully scripted interview with ABC News on Wednesday. He not only didn’t embrace a federal guarantee of the human rights of homosexuals, he endorsed the notion that the matter is one to be decided by the states, such as North Carolina, where the Democrats will hold their national convention in September. Since the voters of that state have now decided to deny gay people their rights, it would seem logical for the Democrats to refuse to hold their convention in such a retrograde environment. Perhaps if Obama’s opinion had evolved just a few days earlier he might have successfully made an argument to North Carolinians before they voted in the Tuesday referendum that produced a constitutional amendment banning same-sex unions. The host state of the 2012 Democratic National Convention boasts of being on the cutting edge of scientific innovation, but it is mired in the swamp of primitive religious dogma. Let’s never forget that invocations of “God’s design” have historically been an invitation to religious pogroms and genocide. Only this time, as Obama’s sudden conversion suggests, the forces of intolerance just might be in decline. The good news is that young voters have returned to the sanity of the nation’s Founders and are unwelcoming of the government’s imposing its will on their pursuit of happiness. Surely Obama was mindful that the gay marriage issue is trending sharply in that direction, and certainly his response is a reason for optimism among those fighting against second-class citizenship for gays. A prediction that Obama’s shift will lead to deep and lasting change for the nation was offered by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, an equally skilled political trend spotter: “No American president has ever supported a major expansion of civil rights that has not ultimately been adopted by the American people, and I have no doubt that this will be no exception.” From the mayor’s lips to God’s ears.
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By jo6pac, May 10, 2012 at 7:13 am Link to this comment
Yep thanks post this so I didn’t have to.
Report thisBy skmacksk, May 10, 2012 at 7:08 am Link to this comment
Thank you Mr. Scheer for your voice, your moral/political sanity!
Report thisAs a man who identifies as queer I will not turn a blind eye to the mendacity and hypocrisy of the New Democrat President Obama, because he granted me the right to engage in a legal contract, that is one of the cornerstone of human civilization, economic and political. Marriage is not the sole property of the utterly corrupt tribalism of the Abrahamic Tradition. Human freedom is not defined by the political pragmatism or even the opportunism of any one man or institution. We made our own world, but now is the time for a long overdue assimilation, in the defense of a generation of young lives of persons who need to be free of coercive and violent strictures on their very being, by the thoughtless, heedless, insensitive sexual conformism of their peers. Young lives are at steak in this fight: we as citizens need to nourish, protect and defend the right of all children to thrive and grow in an environment as free as possible from coercion and violence. Marriage equality is the beginning of an indispensable process of normalization, of acceptance. The agent and apologist for Robber Capital, Margaret Thatcher, once opined TINA, there is no alternative. If we are to survive, the way forward is clear.
By surfnow, May 10, 2012 at 7:03 am Link to this comment
With Bill Clinton it was flag burning with Obama its DADT and gay marriage. It’s all about deflection and going on and on about issues that don’t mean jack.Obama’s position on gay marriage is not going to create jobs or bring universal healthcare or bring back a progressive tax structure or end neverending imperial wars or the destruction of our Constitution. And it’s nauseating that Mr. Scheer actually refers to this nonsense as showing Obama is ” close to being terrific.”
Report thisBy jrundin, May 10, 2012 at 6:44 am Link to this comment
I’m a gay man, and in my time I have been quite politically active around gay causes. So I’m gratified that the president has come around on this.
But, as a long-time Democrat, I’m still a bit angry. For more than fifty years now, it strikes me that Democrats have been substituting identity politics for a politics that adresses an increasingly corrupt, unfair, and out-of-control economic system.
Obama gives me the right to marry (thanks), but he does nothing to punish the criminals and scam artists who incinerated the economy.
Frankly, if I had a choice at this point between having a secure retirement and the right to marry, I’d prefer a secure retirement. These things aren’t mutually exclusive. But the Democrats are only giving me one of the two, and, in my mind, they’re giving me the less important one.
Report thisBy Richard, May 10, 2012 at 6:30 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
‘To acknowledge one’s own sexual being and to define the relationships that follow is a basic human right. How dare anyone intrude on a life choice that is not his to make for others?’ - RS
Never, never, never, never, ever use the words ‘lifestyle’ or ‘choice’ when discussing issues related to sexual orientation. Please.
The word ‘choice’ is a dog-whistle to those for whom sexual orientation is a purposeful selection that is both abhorrent and aberrant. For these people, GLBT existence is only explainable as willful, and sadly misguided, defiance, a deliberate choice intended to affront a deity these people have inexplicable anger/hatred toward. That, or they allow satan to control their hearts. For this group of theists, a deity created only heterosexual humans, and no other. Without exception.
Not only, then, do ‘choice’ and ‘life-style’ reinforce this bigotry, they are also simply not terms which accurately describe sexual/gender orientation, which are decided by biology and chemistry. There is no ‘choice’ about it.
Report thisEveryone with the means to do so may make lifestyle choices about where they live, the type of home and furnishings they desire, the automobile they drive, the entertainment venues they patronize, etc. No one gets to choose sexual orientation.
By Ehrenstein, May 10, 2012 at 6:12 am Link to this comment
My sexuality is not a “distraction” Mr. Cyr. It is my life!
Report thisBy John Poole, May 10, 2012 at 6:10 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
To THE SNED: I do not claim to know Obama’s current state of mind but I think
Report thishe cleverly lusted for the exalted position of POTUS back in 2008. He may not
want a second term which would make him free to sacrifice his chances at
reelection by taking faux risky positions. He’s always been about only himself so
to self martyr is very Obamaesque.
By ElkoJohn, May 10, 2012 at 6:02 am Link to this comment
I was hoping Obama would take on the prison system as the new Jim Crow.
Report thisBy David J. Cyr, May 10, 2012 at 6:01 am Link to this comment
QUOTE, Robert Scheer:
“Once again President Barack Obama has come tantalizingly close to being terrific. But his failure of courage on the gay marriage issue, in the end, undermined the point he hoped to make Wednesday. “
__________________
Here they go again… the corporate party’s (R) & (D) team “tantalizingly” theatrically engaging in what should be non-issues, to create election year sexual distractions, and provide the electorate a corporate media defined “sharp contrast” between the corporate party’s two candidates who are inter-changeable parts with regards to anything that the neoliberal banksters and global industrial climate changing gangsters care about.
Republicans and Democrats work together — hand in glove — to create social discord over abortion, contraception and marriage, in order to divide the massive flock of America’s sheeple into two herds eagerly running into the polls to vote against each others sexual preferences… with both the (R) and (D) flocks voting together for more war and ruthless economic exploitation, against creation of any system actually caring for people’s health, and for either denial or delay regarding the existential threat of climate change.
If Democrats cared about women’s and LGBT rights they’d have legislated them into being the non-issues they should be, when they could have. Democrats don’t do the good they can when they can, because Democrats have no intention to do good.
Voter Consent Wastes Dissent:
http://chenangogreens.org
Jill Stein for President:
http://www.jillstein.org
Report thisBy grokker, May 10, 2012 at 5:49 am Link to this comment
@walterbard Obama’s change of view about gay marriage was at least, if a bit awkwardly, explained. Romney will state his position on an issue on Monday and on Tuesday and with a different crowd say something completely opposite and he’s done this dozens of times and for years. He will say whatever needs to be said at the moment and he is not even aware of it most of the time. Your comparison and re-definition is ridiculous.
Report thisBy Don Schneider, May 10, 2012 at 5:30 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Mr. Scheer, must you always find it necessary to pee on every parade going by ?
Report thisWhat a sad person you must be to have to live with !
By Ehrenstein, May 10, 2012 at 5:08 am Link to this comment
Speaking as a gay man of 65 years of age who came out in 1961 and joined the gay rights movement right after Stonewall (1969), fighting on the front lines for things you khev neither knowledge of nor inclination to find out about Mr. Scheer I find your “well-meaning” article spuremely condescending.
To begin with there’s the word “homosexual” which was invented by a Hungarian journlist (and charlatan) alternately named Karoly Benkert and karl maria von Kertbeny. Read all about him Jonathan “Ned” Katz’s invaluable “The Invention of Heterosexuality.” It is not what is known as a “medical” or “psychiatric” term at all.
It si a label created to identifiey and stygmatize.
Barack Obama is a politican and has always operated as such. To ask for more is to surrender to the fanatasy of of a “Democracy” in this country—which functions as coroporate oligarchy. It is identical the the fantasy of a “Free Press” that is in fact totally controlled—even here in “Truthdig” with its ever-so-gentle notions of offering an “aternative” to the status quo.
Marriage is enirely about property rights and inheritance. Genuine freedom is another story. It is not handed down to us by “laws.” It is taken by people acting in conert for their own good (“Stonewall” being a perfect example.)
Obama’s statement is of great interest to the “mainstream Media” and the closet queens who exist therein as I point out here—
http://fablog.ehrensteinland.com/2012/05/08/fait-diver-keepin-em-dishonest/
That it also has meaning for the LGBT communities is of considerable import as I mention here
http://fablog.ehrensteinland.com/2012/05/09/fait-diver-carolina-or-change/
But that’s for US to deal with Mr. Scheer. Not you.
Report thisBy rickroberts, May 10, 2012 at 4:58 am Link to this comment
Yo, Cliff. Children can be had via adoption, the product of a previous hetero
Report thismarriage, left to one’s custody after the death of a relative, or surrogacy. Broaden
your view, old man. Really.
By rickroberts, May 10, 2012 at 4:50 am Link to this comment
John, what you prefer he call his husband?
Report thisBy Patrick H., May 10, 2012 at 4:18 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Obama is fighting a huge war, against all odds, with betrayers and
Report thisbackstabbers at every turn—had he embraced gay marriage from the get
go DADT and any progress on civil unions, etc. would have been just
another bloody line in the GOP sand… It’s called political triage and Obama
is brilliant at it—saving a very sick patient (the USA) with a drop by drop
blood transfusion. Robert is becoming a cranky old man. How terribly sad
for everyone in the middle or on the left, that they can’t see and smell and
enjoy victory when it happens.
By John in Kerrville, May 10, 2012 at 4:07 am Link to this comment
I see the issue not so much as what you do as how you talk about it. In the
Report thisEnglish language, very few words are gender-specific, but “husband” and “wife”
certainly are. In other languages, almost every noun is either masculine or
feminine, as are the articles and adjectives that go with them, viz. “El Nino” and “La Nina. On the Sunday talk shows there is a regular guest, dressed in suit and tie, who constantly refers to his “husband”. I find that disgusting.
By Kater Murr, May 10, 2012 at 4:06 am Link to this comment
Gee, Truthdig, my comment didn’t have those oddball line breaks in the preview. What gives?
Report thisBy Kater Murr, May 10, 2012 at 4:03 am Link to this comment
I voted for Obama without enthusiasm. It was enough for me that he not be the
Report thisCranky Old Man and the Scary Lady. Even in that rather minimal expectation, I was
disappointed. So after four years Obama has finally tiptoed far enough leftward
that he’s no longer to the right of gay marriage supporter Dick Cheney. In the
words of Robert Crumb’s late brother Charles, how perfectly goddamned delightful
it all is, to be sure.
By Cliff Carson, May 10, 2012 at 3:47 am Link to this comment
“gay couples who are monogamous and nice to their children”
Sorry Robert
Homosexual couples who practice their Homosexual lifestyle, do not have children. Show me a true Homosexual couple who have given birth to offspring and I will show you a freak of nature.
I do believe that a Homosexual deserves the protections of the Constitution - is there something in the Constitution denying a Homosexual couple their rights such as all Americans are supposed to have?
I use the word “supposed” because seems I have observed that every citizens rights have been pared over the years. Will the day come when no citizen has any rights anymore except for the 1%?
Could be.
Report thisBy george Archer, May 10, 2012 at 3:38 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Majority are silent on Gay practices. Obama wants to be
Report thisre-elected. I don’t believe in any type of marrige.
Gays should stay stay away from this no good legal
binding affair—dangerous. And I thought gays had the
smarts :^/
By THE SNED, May 10, 2012 at 3:23 am Link to this comment
Too many of us expected this untested man of compromise to be god himself. He
Report thiswasn’t. If he gets a mandate as he did the last time he won’t be so kind. But he’ll
be lucky to achieve that. Robert Sheer is right in some respects but his attitude
sucks…as if he was in the same office as Obama. He’s not. We’re not. Obama is
not perfect. We’re not. He’s not. Now I hope he takes down Wall street. He just
took on the Roman Catholic Church and right winged evangelical Protestantism.
Mr Sheer makes no mention of that.I think that’s a real big deal. I think he could
lose the election because of it. Something Mr Sheer doesn’t mention. That is a risk
no president has faced. Good for him. Screw you Mr Sheer.
By walterbard, May 10, 2012 at 3:15 am Link to this comment
Here are some new definitons for old words.
Conversion: When Obama takes a position
completely opposite from the one he held.
Flip Flop: When Romney does the same thing.
Report thisBy Neil D. Hunt, May 10, 2012 at 3:00 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Obama is a known liar so I don’t think that he is suddenly worthy of my
Report thissupport.. He wants Gay cash Everyone does… #freebrad do something
about protection of a Gay Whistle Blower Bradley Manning! Stop the WAR on
TRUTH! Gay Not all Gay people are so superficial that we don’t recognize
your motives and care not to thank you for only doing what is in your best
interest Mr. Obama….
By Tom Edgar, May 10, 2012 at 2:58 am Link to this comment
When Obama is re elected then you will see the true Obama. His actions will not be restrained by the need to negotiate another period in office with the obstruction from the retrogressive right and idiotically religious.
Report thisBy THX 1133 is not in the movie..., May 10, 2012 at 2:43 am Link to this comment
Unfortunately, I see how my post could be construed to
Report thisread that the devil is gay marriage.
No, no, no! Gay marriage = good.
I just think Obama sucks and this doesn’t change my
opinion.
By THX 1133 is not in the movie..., May 10, 2012 at 2:24 am Link to this comment
So, Obama turncoat is now Puff-the-Magic-Dragon?
Report thisThis one statement changes everything?
He’s a brazen opportunist who has partnered with the
devil to get what he wants.
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