The president and first lady address an LGBT reception. Pool photo / Getty.
by Mark Silva
President Barack Obama said today, at the White House, that he should be judged by the promises he keeps.
He said so to an audience promised much.
The president addressed a few hundred at an East Room reception honoring LGBT Pride Month. The open bar may have been little consolation for a crowd to whom the president has promised to repeal the military's Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy for gays and lesbians serving in the military and action on other matters of gay rights.
"I know that many in this room don't believe that progress has come fast enough,'' the president told his invited audience.
"We have made progress, and we will make more,'' said Obama, who recently signed an order enabling the domestic partners of federal workers to have government health and insurance benefits. The Obama administration also will take a count of gay and lesbian married couples in the 2010 Census.
Obama urged his audience to judge him "by the promises my administration keeps,''
The president touted the actions he has taken, extending government benefits to same-sex partners of federal workers, lauding Office of Personnel Management Director John Berry, the administration's highest ranking openly gay official, for his role in that,and urging Congress to repeal the Defense Of Marriage Act and the Domestic Partners Act.
Noting his support of the so-called Matthew Shepard Act, which extends hate crimes laws to acts committed against gays, he recalled meeting with Judy Shepard, Matthew's mother, in the Oval Office.
He maintained that he is working with the Pentagon, as well as Congress, to end the Don't Ask-Don't Tell policy, and called this period a "transition" toward that goal - which he maintained must be met pragmatically.
Obama saluted heroes of the gay rights movement in the room, Frank Kameny, who was fired as a federal government astronomer in 1957 and later led a White House protest in 1965, as well as two (unnamed) veterans of the Stonewall protests in New York City 40 years ago.
First Lady Michelle Obama stood by the president through 20 minutes of remarks. Other federal officials present included Fred Hochberg, chairman of the Export-Import Bank, and John Easton, director of the Institute of Education Sciences at the Department of Energy.
"Thank you, Mr. President,'' some could be heard to utter.
"Love you,'' said some.
Comments
In other words forget the lies.
Posted by: Inky | June 29, 2009 8:10 PM
Now is the time to repeal Don't Ask Don't Tell, President Obama. We should get it done right after we finish with healthcare reform.
The bible humping right-wing cretins don't have a leg to stand on, i.e. Foley, Craig, Vitter, Ensign, Sanford etc etc etc etc......
.
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/news/2009/06/sex_scandal_flow_chart.php
Posted by: DrainYou | June 29, 2009 8:10 PM
Gay marriage is not about rocket science. My mother is eighty five years old and lives in rural Missouri. She applied a little common sense to the issue and hit the nail on the head. ......
http://thefiresidepost.com/2008/11/02/old-women-talk-politics/
Posted by: Ohg Rea Tone | June 29, 2009 8:30 PM
Clinton screwed the gays royally. They effectively have to be celibate to be in the military. They can't have any legitimate family structure or adopt children.
It will be hard for Obama to top Clinton's record.
I do feel sorry for my fellow Republicans like Larry Craig, Foley, Lindy Graham, Mitch McConnell, ....well, I could go on, but you know who you are, and I won't be too unkind. God has afflicted y'all too much already, and I love the sinner too much to keep naming names.......
But that is the price we Republicans must pay to pander to the rednecks' homophobic instincts.
Larry, Lindy, Mitch, Mark....keep a stiff upper whatever!
Posted by: Milton Friedman | June 29, 2009 11:09 PM
I've seen two Barack Obamas when it comes to legislative policy. I've seen ball of fire Obama, when pushing for something he is passionate about, like getting the stimulus bill passed and the energy bill through the House. This Obama scours the country rounding up support, spends hours on the phone with members of Congress, etc. This Obama has loads of popularity and political capital, and gets the things done he feels are important.
Then you have the other Obama. This one made a multitude of campaign promises before he understood the difficulty of keeping them. This Obama made promises on issues he is obviously not passionate about. He claims he "asked" Congress to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act? Where is ball of fire Obama? He's not showing up. He does not think this issue is worth his political capital, similar to the don't ask, don't tell policy, the card check bill, Armenian genocide, bringing "1 to 2 brigades home a month" from Iraq, etc. The list goes on.
The odd thing is that these constituencies (gay/lesbian, union, anti-war, etc) not only remain blindly faithful to Obama, but they get openly hostile to anyone who actually calls Obama on any of this. I guess these people cling to the hope that Obama will walk the walk on their issue. Is that what he meant by hope for change.
A little off the subject here, but Obama is close to a free trade deal with Columbia. Didn't liberals lose their minds over this when Bush tried it? Because of Columbia's history of violence against unions? Obama says he is confident Columbia's president is committed to the rule of law. Same president since like 2002. So what has changed? Is this the unions going under the bus again? How much will they put up with?
Posted by: Herbie H. | June 30, 2009 7:30 AM
Correction to author: Obama did not extend same sex couples' health benefits to federal employees.
Posted by: Correction | June 30, 2009 8:31 AM