No, Mr. President. This will not suffice. From the
Times:
The package of domestic partnership benefits that President Obama established for federal workers on Wednesday drew the loudest protests from some of those it was intended to help, gay men and lesbians who criticized the move as too timid.
The administrative memorandum extending some partnership rights to federal workers in same-sex relationships, which Mr. Obama signed late Wednesday, allows administration personnel to take leave to care for sick partners and requires the government to recognize their partners as household members when determining overseas housing allocations for State Department employees, among other things.
This is all very well, and it's nice for the federal employees whose supervisors are [site of digestive evacuation, plural] and weren't
already allowing them to take leave in order to care for sick partners, but this is hardly enough. It doesn't nearly make up for this:
Fueling the protest, the president’s move came just days after the administration filed a legal brief defending the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act — which defines marriage as between a man and a woman only — in a case challenging the law.
The brief was an outright slap in the face to gays and lesbians who gave their support to the President, and the memorandum he signed just isn't good enough. I am still totally at a loss to understand why they filed the brief in the first place, if this is really true:
Mr. Obama said he would indeed work to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, calling it “discriminatory.” He also announced his support for legislation that would extend full health care benefits to federal workers, a measure whose sponsors include Senators Joseph I. Lieberman, independent of Connecticut, and Representative Tammy Baldwin, Democrat of Wisconsin, both of whom stood behind the president Wednesday afternoon.
Then
work for it. But don't expect us to quiet down in the meantime because you decided to take a few baby steps in our direction.
Posts
I know you said you'd never vote for a Repub for President. But think about it. The Repubs are indeed stupid, vain, and somewhat corrupt. But they aren't out and out evil like the current crop of Dems. Mr. Obama is lying to you, time and time again. He only pays attention when you stop the dollars, and then it is just a crumb. You know that Dick Cheney would be better on gay rights than the current administration.
ReplyDeleteJohn, I don't think the Democrats are evil, nor do I think they are any more venal than the GOP counterparts. Given that I pretty much opposed the entire domestic and foreign policy agenda of the GOP platform, I have a hard time imagining a vote for their presidential candidate.
ReplyDeleteWow, John, thst is just kooky. You have one prominent Repub. who supports states rights (for and against) and who has a child who is gay, and that is it. By the way, Obama ran on DOMA so not exactly sure how this classifies as lying.
ReplyDeleteI disagree Dan, on the other thread you are talking about sick people being denied coverage for pre-existing conditions, right now fixing health care is the pre-eminent domestic issue of our times. To also take on this issue would be fighting too many battles on too many fronts. Lets not forget "don't ask, don't tell" helped mobilize Republicans who in turn defeated Clinton care.
I hate to say it but justice delayed (for the second term) is better than justiced denied.
charo
Sorry, my friend Charo. I am obviously going to disagree with you about this. I think the GOP would have a lot of difficulty generating any heat if DADT were eliminated; it seems pretty clear that public opinion has turned against that policy, and refusing to put a stop-loss on DADT discharges is some combination of apathy and cowardice.
ReplyDeleteGetting rid of DOMA may take more work, and I'm a bit more willing to be patient. That doesn't mean I'm willing to countenance the Obama administration making it worse, which is a beef I will flesh out in another post.
Do I wish he would put a stop-loss? absolutely. But I don't know the reasons why he is not. My problem is I am not sure what you mean by not countenancing the Obama administration making it worse (he is not making it worse by the way, making it worse would be go back to before don't ask don't tell). Just what does that entail? Boycotting the mid-terms? 2012? Not giving money to Democratic causes? Not supporting other Democratic issues?
ReplyDeleteAnd if what you mean is you will simply protest vocally, well I hate to say it but it probably plays into Obama's hands, he can always say "look, neither side is happy so I must be doing something right" and most Americans would agree.
charo
I'm referring to the Smelt DOMA brief, which supports DOMA on the merits, and thus augments the arguments against recognition of same-sex marriage.
ReplyDeleteAnd not only do I plan to protest in whatever venue I can (like, um, this little corner of the blogosphere), but I plan to significantly reduce the enthusiasm of my support for him in 2012 unless he makes more strides than this in the meantime.