Tweet
Reporter Marc Ambinder seems to have some inside dope about what the President will say in a 1:30 PM ET interview with ABC’s Robin Roberts today. We’ll see.
From the New York Times:
The sudden booking suggests an interest on the part of the White House to get Mr. Obama in front of cameras, albeit in a carefully controlled interview setting, as soon as possible.
ABC secured the interview with Mr. Obama on Tuesday afternoon, according to two people involved in the planning. It will take place at the White House. The interview was so hastily arranged, in fact, that Ms. Roberts was still in New York on Wednesday morning to co-host “Good Morning America”– and was planning on returning to New York right after the interview, because her mother is visiting and the two have dinner plans on Wednesday evening.
Honestly, at this moment, I don’t give a crap. Being jerked around, constantly seen as an ATM, and the man can’t even state the obvious, and his surrogates continue this tap dance of stupidity over what is or isn’t an affirmation that the President believes in full equality for gay and lesbian couples. His own campaign couldn’t even lift a digital finger to tell people to vote against discrimination here in NC. The President can’t even sign an executive order barring employment discrimination against LGBTs in federal contracts.
If this is some sort of debutante debut on the marriage equality scene for dramatic effect, it’s kind of pathetic. If it’s another Lucy and the football moment, it’s time to stop the too-cute-by-half routine. Our lives have been treated like a political football by purported allies as well as professional anti-gays.
It’s sickening to see our humanity diminished over and over for shiz and political giggles by people untouched by the discrimination.
12 Comments
Uh, you’re kidding right? Please…if the guy can’t even bring himself to sign an executive order protecting our right to work, what makes you think he has the courage to come out in favor of the right to marry?
You’re living in a fantasy world. Obama will find some way to avoid coming out fully in favor of SSM, but if by some miracle he does do that you can expect those of us who prioritize the right to work to make this a MAJOR issue this election season.
Um, why am I in a fantasy world? I’ve blogged many, many times that my priority, given I live in a state with zero employment protections, that ENDA is much more important than marriage equality. That’s why his coming out on this is newsworthy, but of little important or impact on my personal life. Marriage equality will only come to NC via SCOTUS, not a Presidential tip-toe on his personal views about the matter.
I was pleased to be one of the almost 200,000 voters in the NC Democratic primary that voted “No Preference” rather than vote for the only candidate listed — Obama.
I’ll happily NOT vote for Obama again in November.
Obama won NC by approx 14,000 votes in 2008, and over 199,000 Democratic voters bailed on him yesterday.
He’s toast in NC this year.
Good riddance.
This right here is what we call damned if you do damned if you don’t.
The same people that hated the President for laying low on this will be the same people that hate him for speaking up.
Its kind of sad.
I won’t be voting for him either, but I won’t be supporting him because he wandered into this mess in the first place. A smart politician would have steered clear of this and let the activists duke it out to the bitter end.
Instead he is about to please NO ONE and further alienate other voters.
If he comes out in support of gay marriage, we better all get used to the idea of President Romney and Republican control of everything.
WAY TO GO GUYS!
I do have one question for Hunter…”How exactly is Obama hurt by losing the election?” I mean seriously…how are you punishing him. He gets to retire and make millions writing another book, lecturing or doing philanthropic work. You (and everyone else for that matter) get GOP control of everything. So who exactly is being punished?
It’s always mildly entertaining watching you trying to blame voters for having the audacity to hold a candidate accountable.
But it’s your epic failures of logic that never cease to amaze.
You’ve somehow bestowed on me the goal of making Obama a penniless retiree, which is patently absurd. Ironically, it is Obama himself that has bestowed that end on too many Americans. Let Obama retire with riches. It’s no secret his corporate keepers will reward him well whenever he retires.
We had Democratic control of everything 2 years ago, and look what little got us. Why fear GOP control of everything (or perhaps another split)?
He did! FWIW.
He just did.
On the other hand, that signature would have helped a lot more in the short term. We’ll have to see if his change in position means much of anything; it’s unfortunate that it was after North Carolina’s vote, for example.
I wonder how LGBTs is North Carolina feel about GOP control over everything since 2010.
Oh wait, we don’t have to wonder:
Holding a candidate “accountable” works just fine if you have an alternative candidate that shared your values and had a real chance of winning.
However you don’t have that. Your alternative is to enable the opposition candidate who is guaranteed and had openly declared that his intention is to make your life as miserable as possible.
So again I ask who is more likely to be hurt?
There’s plenty of blame for the disaster of Nov 2010 to go around, but the bulk of it squarely resides with the decision by federal “Democrats” led by Obama not to focus on fixing the economy and the disaster we still call a financial industry. Instead we get this health care albatross. Great work, team Obama!
It’s always the economy, stupid. Obama rode in on a redrawn electoral map in 2008 because of a tanking economy. He and his party were then punished in 2010 primarily for not fixing the economy.
This isn’t rocket science.
So then you DO recognize that it might be problematic having the GOP run everything.
I mean how was 2010 a disaster if they are both the same?
Given what just happened in North Carolina (not to mention the crap that has happened all over the country to ordinar citizens that had their states taken over by the GOP) how EXACTLY were the Democrats punished? It seems to me that their “punishement” was not having control over the government. Yet the people that have actually suffered as a result of them not being in power are YOU and every other ordinary American. How’d that strategy work out for ya?
In order for your strategy to be sound, you need to explain how you are punishig Democrats and the President. Right now, your punishment is looking a lot like self flagellation.
Wasn’t Obama forced to speak in support of marriage equality this very day?
Till next time…
Yes the whole marriage issue will be decided at the SCOTUS as in 1967. But it would be encouraging to see this president step into an LBJ-sized pair of boots instead of the dance slippers he skirts around in as a practicing Christian.
The Obama epiphany is an absurd triangulation. To suggest that you or I dine on a plate of states rights is nauseating. Many North Carolinians had a full plate of states rights shoved down our throats yesterday. It tasted just like Jim Crow to me. Perhaps the President should serve the crow to Malia and Sasha and then ask them what they think about gay marriage being left in the hands of the 50 states.
No one deserves other than a full plate of freshly-baked cookies and a warm glass of milk served at the big boys and girls table. You can only survive on crumbs and table scraps for so long.
Stepping back for a moment I see a community of LGBT people who very badly want to believe. A community that has been scorned to the point of yearning for legitimacy and someone to trust. In doing so however we continue to exist as a servile community that most leaders take for granted. So long as the LGBT community is willing to accept whatever is parsed out we will be stalled by our reluctance to take ownership of our futures.
We can not outsource that battle. Rights are not generally granted. They are taken. And there will be casualties along the way.