Obama Reality Check

[unusualmusic_lj_archive]

I've got to say that Obama needs some serious education on feminist and gay issues, to begin with. And he needs to take his Puritanical, religious streak the fuck out of the business of governing Americans fairly. And he also needs to learn that he is running for President of ALL AMERICANS, and that includes gays, women and fucking atheists as well. And finally, he needs to look closely at the logo of his party. Cause it AIN'T a fucking elephant. Its a goddamn donkey. As in, he's a DEMOCRAT, NOT A REPUBLICAN. And he needs to start acting like one. Because at the moment, I am sick and fucking tired of giving him the benefit of the doubt. Shakesville has some really cool posts on the subject:

How a President's faith can affect us all


Its time to get Obama Skeptical


What you don't know can hurt you



And this is the BASIC STUFF!

*sigh* Apparently a political party that wants to lead us into the fucking 21th century with justice, rights and liberty for all is too much to ask.

Comments

[haddayr.livejournal.com]

It was because of his stance on gay issues and his religion that I held my nose when I voted for him in the caucus.

It makes me so tired.

[unusualmusic.livejournal.com]

yeah. I am SO TIRED, of being cynical, of holding my nose, of wondering why the hell he doesn't get it, of wondering who the hell WILL get it, and not only get it, but articulate it well enough so OTHERS WILL GET IT. Damn it, I AM SICK OF THE DEMOCRATS RUNNING ON THE REPUBLICAN TRAIN TRACK, DAMMIT!

Can you tell I'm pissed?

[haddayr.livejournal.com]

Leftist and anarchist friends I respect don't vote because of this; they refuse to contribute to a system they believe is essentially broken.

I can't bring myself to take that step -- not even for national elections. But I have moved past anger into passive helpless, apathy, which is exactly what the people in power are hoping for.

[miaryann.livejournal.com]

http://www.washingtonblade.com/thelatest/thelatest.cfm?blog_id=17266

[unusualmusic.livejournal.com]

“I refuse to limit my God, to lock God into my cultural understandings because culture is fickle,” Wright said. “And culture is often wrong. Culture was wrong about slavery. Culture was wrong about women. Culture was wrong about Africans and Indians, and culture was wrong about Christ,” he said. “I have been the pariah among many of my clergy colleagues who somehow see me as defective or not quite saved because I won’t join them in their homophobic gay bashing and misquoting of scripture.”

I really, really like this. Thanks for showing me the article. But what I want to know, with all the agy events he's been attending, why did he have so much trouble coming up with the answer to that question in the Advocate? We KNOW that he's bloody great at framing, for heavens sake. Why is he not framing this as an "we're all americans, equal rights for all" type deal? he can do MUCh better than this. And I am pissed.

[mothwentbad.livejournal.com]

Sometimes, I hear him making slightly wry remarks about the inerrancy and timelessness of the Bible, and it's a little encouraging, and then when I'm feeling generous, I interpret his nods to religion as obligatory. Maybe I am being duped. Maybe he's as willing to compromise for the sake of the status quo as anyone else. Maybe my curiosity about the next 4 years is justified, but not sufficiently morbid. This post has been a downer for me.

[unusualmusic.livejournal.com]

Trust, the articles didn't make me leap for joy either. I am pissed because all this potential to change the Overton window is going down the drain.

[starfishncoffee.livejournal.com]

Yeah. This is part of the reason why I can't get all excited about him.
And why I was voting for Edwards in the first damn place.

[unusualmusic.livejournal.com]

And what I am hearing is that he listens then goes and does what he feels like in the first place. And that is pissing me off. I've had ENOUGH conservative politics to last a lifetime, thanks. Progressive politics PLEASE!

[leneypoo.livejournal.com]

I'm confused about Melissa McEwan's 'the WOMEN ARE GETTING RAPED! in AFRICA' as the only form as sexual activity for African woman.

Apparently, putting abstinence education on the table of sex-ed education is a HORRIBLE UN-PROGRESSIVE thing, but when someone proposed a situation where a woman didn't have access to adequate protection (which is a reality in some places), the answer was.

"Well the woman can just say no."

HUH? So then, what's so horrible about emphasizing abstinence?

Frankly, as the daughter of an epidemiologist who deals with STDs, we do need sex-ed that focuses on contraception and protection (when I was in elementary school it did and I'm in Florida). But people really do need to chill about abstinence because guess what? You won't get pregnant or a STD if you don't have sex!

In middle/high school there is pressure to have sex from peers/relationship partners and hell yeah I think a portion of sex-ed should be "you don't need to have sex until you're ready to handle the consequences."

my two cents

EDIT: And the outrage boils down to, 'he didn't say the word rape?' Um...okay?

rambly and disconnected...

[leneypoo.livejournal.com]

Okay, I read all of the articles. Made me realize that I've kept myself from the other side. But I've gotten to the point where what I'm really looking forward to is the end of the primary wars. John McCain is getting a free ride from both candidates because they're too focused on each other. The media isn't going to do anything about it, so the sooner the dems can unite behind the winner, the better.

So basically, the argument is that he isn't a progressive and he isn't a fighter, so he's either going to lose horribly to John McCain. Or, he's going to get into office and compromise what little glimmers of progressive policy he has.

We can turn this around. I think Hillary Clinton playing best friends with John McCain these days is unbelievably stupid. I think the Mark Penn connection and his ties to John McCain are troubling. I think her positives vs. Obama don't help her at all with John McCain?

Experience? She loses to the guy who's been in there for almost as long as I've been alive.
A Real American? She loses to John "Hanoi Hilton" McCain?

So not only does her best argument (experience) get totally canceled out in the general, the American public is going to get exposed to "the GOP presents Billary: Greatest Hits" the entire GE season. All the scandals will come back, and new ones will pop up because everyone knows Sen. Clinton and her husband have been busy. 109m attests to that.

Even worse, I think that she will do nothing for down ticket races while Obama can actually win us some. If we have a filibuster proof congress, we won't have to worry about the fear of Obama compromising w/ the Republicans because the dems won't have to.

Also, the candidates who are backing Obama or being endorsed by him in these races are pretty progressive, even if we'll concede that Obama isn't Kucinich.

With Clinton, there's a pretty good chance we'll see the return of the triangulation days that got us DOMA and the deregulation of the FCC.

So to sum up, Obama doesn't pass the purity test. Neither does Clinton, neither did Edwards. Maybe Kucinich. Nader definitely. I don't think he's a republican in democratic clothing though.

[delux-vivens.livejournal.com]

I've got to say that Obama needs some serious education on feminist and gay issues, to begin with.

Kinda like so many mainstream gay organizations and publications have to get some seroius education about racism? Sorry if I sound cranky but there's a lot abou that advocate article that really, really pissed me off; ditto shakesville.

[unusualmusic.livejournal.com]

By all means be cranky. Trust and believe that Shakesville pisses me off a great deal on many counts. Hell there are times when I wonder if Obama can say ANYTHING AT ALL, without being accused of being sexist. But they do put up posts from time to time that I can agree with in the main, and these are some examples. And to be fair, they have been quick to catch some of the more ridiculous things that have been pulled on Barack, although they still have a problem admitting that Hilary is running a strategically racist campaign.

As for mainstream gay orgs. I don't think I will be even looking at that one at this moment. Cause honestly, that way leads to high blood pressure, and i am still recovering from that post that Karythia put up on POC and medical experiments.