“How To Screw A President 101”

In the United States we are approaching what is called a “midterm election”. It is called this because it comes near the halfway mark of a President’s term. It is largely looked at as a referendum on the President’s performance and policies. The thinking is that the voters will re-elect to the senate and congress, candidates from the President’s political party if they think his policies are working and his job performance is good. Of course the reverse is also true. If the electorate thinks the President’s policies are not working and his performance is weak, they will elect candidates from the opposite party or not come out to vote. In a country so divided by partisanship as America, it behooves an incumbent President to keep his voter base engaged and on board by fulfilling the promises he made to them while running for office.

After the failed Bush Presidency, political and social policies, the country voted for economic, political and social change. Viable Presidential candidates such as Hillary Clinton were swept by the wayside in favor of Barack Obama’s vision of change. Both the African American and GLBT electorate, traditionally supportive of Hillary Clinton, abandoned her and supported Obama, becoming a major force in electing him to the Presidency. President Obama finds himself in a quandary with the Gay community as the mid term elections approach.

Barack Obama made several promises to the Gay community. The major ones are the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell (DADT), the passage of the Employment Non Discrimination Act (ENDA), and the repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). As of this writing, he has failed to deliver on any of these promises. DADT remains in effect and the Obama administration continues to permit its enforcement. Gay soldiers continue to be prosecuted and discharged from the military under the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy. Lives and careers are ruined as we say to our Gay soldiers it is OK for you to die for your country but not to be truthful about who you are and who you love. By executive order, President Obama can stop the discharges today while work continues on the repeal of DADT. He has chosen not to. His convictions and ability to stand up for them in the face of bigoted adversity do not match his words. Talk is cheap, but actions show the true measure of a leader.

ENDA is still not law in this country. Gay men and women continue to loose and be denied jobs, and endure harassment and discrimination at the hands of coworkers and employers because they are Gay. The President continues to promise the passage of this legal protection but fails to act and bring pressure upon the congress to pass this bill. The passage of ENDA requires Barack Obama to push it as a priority with the leadership of the Congress and Senate. He has failed to do so despite a controlling majority in both legislative bodies by his own political party. Here again talk is cheap but actions are revealing of this Presidents ability to lead.

There has been no movement on the repeal of DOMA due to the Obama administration’s actions. In fact the Obama Justice Department has defended legal challenges against DOMA on several occasions, once with a poorly written legal brief containing homophobic language. The President claims that his administration is legally obligated to defend the law even if its official position is that it should be repealed. Not so Mr. President, as there is legal precedence for a Justice Department to not defend laws that are ideologically against the administrations policies and felt to be discriminatory.

In the past few weeks the state of Massachusetts successfully won a ruling stating that the major part of DOMA is unconstitutional as it does not allow a state to define marriage as it sees fit. The ruling was made by a Federal judge. The loosing side was Obama’s Justice Department that had again defended DOMA in federal court. Obama often says that same sex marriage should be an issue for the states to decide, but when one of the states legalizes same sex marriage and wants the right to provide same sex couples with all the state and federal benefits of opposite sex couples, Obama’s Justice Department fought against it.

The Obama administration now has a mess on its hands as it approaches the midterm elections. Having failed to take a strong stand on Gay issues as promised, it has been able to keep these important social issues from playing a key role in public opinion regarding the President’s performance and policies. With the court’s ruling in the Massachusetts case, it has thrust the issue of same sex marriage to the top of the list as an issue in the midterm elections. If Obama’s Justice Department does not appeal the decision it is political fodder for the right wing in a key election year that could determine control of the Congress and the Senate.

If the Obama administration does appeal the Federal court decision, the President will further alienate the Gay community. A community whose patience has come to an end due to his inaction and or inability to fulfill the promises made to it, a patience that has been lost over the continued discharges of Gay soldiers and the administration’s continued legal defense of DOMA. In alienating the Gay community, Obama has put our vote in play and thereby the control of the Senate and the House, as well as the future of his own Presidency in the 2012 election.

Barak Obama is in danger of loosing control of the Legislative branch and of becoming a one term President presiding over a failed Presidency. He finds himself in this predicament due to broken promises and a lack of courage to spend the political capital to advance the issues important to his Gay voter base in the first two years of his Presidency.

As we see more and more countries like Canada and Argentina legalizing same sex marriage, America is dimming as a beacon of freedom and equality. It is loosing its credibility as the force behind human rights and life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness as a God given right. While the Bush presidency was no friend to the gay community, it was viewed as the last of the old guard, passing away. We saw the Obama Presidency as a signal that “Change had come to America” and this country would regain its credibility as a human rights leader. Instead our continued decline under Obama not only alienates the Gay community it continues to fracture our position as a world leader and our reputation in the world community. Barack Obama’s self inflicted damage has harmed us all. To whom much is given, much is expected.

How do you screw a President? In Obama’s case he screwed himself by failing to rise to a moment in history that called for strong leadership in newly defining the meaning of Human Rights, Equality and Civil Rights both in he United States and on the Global stage.