Yes, but as a Politico headline might ask, Will Obama's risky sanity strategy backfire?

In a week featuring more 'Do fallout, the Sultry Saga of Sparky Sanford and continued, incessant whiny-butt pussy-footing around on health care from spineless, er, centrist Democratic senators who still seem to think it's 2003, the smartest, sanest thing that anybody said might have come from the podium during the president's meeting with a pissy press:

"I know everybody here is on a 24-hour news cycle. I'm not."

Comments

[RussBBinVegas]

Wouldn't it have been something if the American president & the American media had been as "appalled & outraged" by the hundreds of dead bodies Israel piled up in Gaza last year as they were horrified by the death of the Iranian woman.

[atdleft]

Russ-

True. Now don't get me wrong, what's happening in Iran right now is horrifying. But still, why do we only express selective outrage at some human rights offenses while completely ignoring others?

Mr. Gleaner-

I wish I had your confidence. Methinks President Obama needs to step up to the plate and provide some more leadership (on climate/energy, health care, civil rights, etc.) here at home.

[Rich]

**Atdleft...I wish he'd stand up to the plate and facilitate the GLBT community getting equal civil rights. I'm fed up worrying about and paying for things in foreign countries...take care of us at home first. Now, there's a concept.

[ns]

Wait, -- Michael Jackson just DIED, according to the LA Times -- seriously!!

A heart attack...

[ns]

CONFIRMED -- Jackson Dead at 50...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31552029/ns/entertainment-music/

[ns]

Oh, god, now we are going to be treated to more boring stories in the R-J -- "Michael Jackson Did A Lot in Vegas" -- and REALLY boring anecdotes from Norm's column.

Vacation time.

[The Penguin]

What is this R-J of which you speak? And who is the Norm?

[ns]

Penguin:

Well, if you must know, I've only heard about this R-J thing, and some guy named Norm.

[Nevada_Ned]

CUI BONO? For those who spoke no Latin at home, "Who Benefits?"

Ask yourself, who benefits from Michael Jackson's death? Obviously John Ensign and Mark Sanford, both of whom are eager to distract public attention from their own scandals. Aha! So we have a motive. And two suspects. Conspiracy?

Nah, just kidding.

[atdleft]

Ned & ns-

You're so mean! ;-)

No seriously, I'm still a little sad this morning. I sent much of my childhood dancing to Michael Jackson videos on MTV & VH1. And now he's gone? I feel like I lost my childhood. Yesterday might have been "The Day Our Music Died".

OK, maybe I'm getting too sappy now. I can't help it.

Rich-

Thank you. I actually don't mind Obama's foreign policy. For the most part, he's getting that right. However, I agree with you 120% on getting civil rights moving. We shouldn't be losing any more good soldiers to DADT, and Nevada gay & lesbian couples deserve equal federal benefits.

[Rich]

@Atdleft...yesterday he waffled on DOMA and came out for it. Looks like the GLBT community gets thrown under the bus again.

[atdleft]

Rich-

http://www.pamshouseblend.com/tag/Obama%20admin

That's why we keep getting off the road and back on that bus. Obama, Reid, and Pelosi promised us we'll see progress on repealing DOMA & DADT, along with passing ENDA and other important LGBT civil rights bills. We need to keep holding them accountable.

[CJ]

Day by day Obama is beginning to look more and more like a fucking weasel...

[Rich]

CJ - we all had high hopes and it turns out he's just another fucking politician. He's more concerned with getting re-elected than with GLBT equal civil right. Will we get behind him again? I wonder.

[ns]

CJ and Rich:

Damn, you know, if you represent "GLBT," then you are just too dissatisified all of the time.

Please, stop bitching everywhere like little Perez Hiltons and get some political sophistication.

Obama has been president, in an economic crisis, for less than six months, and already moved slowly but surely in a progressive way on a number of fronts, including finance reform, stimulating the economy, health care, environmental issues (he will sign cap and trade), AND gay rights.

He's doing it all in a measured, very smart way, avoiding the traps that the right-wing wants him to fall into, such as a drawn out national debate on gay marriage (yeah, sorry, that's the reality, but domestic partnerships are now possible even in Nevada) that would paralyze progress on the bigger important issues.

You want everything at once? It won't happen, never. But progress is being made.

Obama is one of the most progressive presidents ever, and we are damn fortunate to have him in there at this time in history.

Bitch less, appreciate more.

[Rich]

NS - not until all the eggs in your hetero basket are in mine. We don't ask for anything special, just our EQUAL CIVIL RIGHTS. We're tired of being second class citizens.

[Michael Green]

It is easy for me as a heterosexual to say, oh, yes, the LGBT community should wait. To say that is somewhere between wrong, hypocritical, and condescending. At the same time, far too many Obama supporters drank the kool-aid and decided that he could wave a magic wand and make things happen. There is much we do not and cannot know about what is being said and done behind the scenes. But I have confidence in this: Obama is the most progressive president on domestic matters since Lyndon Johnson, he is on the right track or wants to be on the right track, and is moving things in the right direction. And I mean economically, diplomatically, and socially.

[Nevada_Ned]

Hey, did anybody notice the RJ editorial today, "Ensign Ethics"? They could have said that his personal life is totally unrelated to his role as a public official. Instead after much hemming and hawing they asserted weakly that "the assertions [of extortion, etc.] are serious enough to deserve review."

Makes you think that Ensign could be in real trouble, if even a rabidly Republican newspaper won't back him.

Back to my original question, which was "did anybody notice the RJ editorial?". The answer is apparently no: None of the 26 people in the valley who read the RJ on a Saturday noticed the editorial.

[atdleft]

Rich-

Thank you for that. We just want the same civil rights that heteros take for granted. Believe it or not, LGBT people can still be fired from their jobs in most states simply for who they are... And the same goes in the US military. Even here in Nevada, transgender people still face this "legal" workplace discrimination. And of course, Nevada gay & lesbian couples still have no federal legal rights... Even once SB 283 becomes state law.

This must change!

Michael-

Thank you for your reasoned response. It truly hurts to be called a "nellie queen" by people I thought to be allies. I hope your hope proves to be true. But in the mean time, we shouldn't just expect progress to happen. We need to push The President & Congress to do the right thing. I hope I'm not irritating you too much by my repetitive message, but we need to keep demanding that Obama keep his campaign promises as we ask Reid, Berkley, and Titus to work actively on DOMA & DADT repeals along with passing ENDA & UAFA.

[Michael Green]

Atdleft, I think maintaining pressure is fine. Others who fought for the rights they were entitled to as human beings and under the Constitution didn't. I just don't want anyone to lose sight of a simple fact: this presidency isn't a sprint, it's a marathon.

[CJ]

Hey NS and Professor - what's your alibi for the JD brief defending DOMA that was filed less than a week after Obama proclaimed himself our (lgbt) fierce advocate . WTF

How fucking dare he? That brief equated gay marriage to incest. INCEST. Add the further hypocrisy of refusing to keep his promise to stop kicking loyal gay and lesbian Americans out of our military. WTF again...

I'll say again...OBAMA IS A WEASEL, and he is betraying us, and sadly proving himself to be just another lying positician who will say anything to get a vote.

[Michael Green]

CJ, did you see any sign that I defended that brief? No. I disagree with it, strongly. But that's the point: you presume that because I am trying to understand Obama's point of view or what he is doing, I must agree with it. When I try to understand why Senator Promisekeeper E. (for Empty) Suit does what he does, sometimes I can attribute it to his stupidity, sometimes to a calculation of some kind. Does that mean I agree with it?

[Rich]

MG-I usually agree with you but, CJ makes several valid points, i.e., gay marriage=incest, waffling on DOMA and DADT. I'm seventy years old and have been a second class citizen all my life while paying first class taxes. Have you ever been taken out of a night club, jailed, have your name and picture in the paper the next morning, all for being in that club and talking to the person sitting next to you? This is the FOURTIETH anniversary of the Stonewall riots, just how far have we come? Not very. We're still equated to incest, and we cannot serve our country because of how we were born and who we are. Frankly, soft padaling is what we've done all my life and now is the time for action. I/we have hope in Obama but can't let these issues go bye. I'd like to die having my equal civil rights. Is that too much to ask for?

[Michael Green]

Rich, it is the least that you or anyone else should ask for. I am trying to figure out how, in this discussion, I became an advocate for moving slowly on LGBT rights when I am merely making the point that I think Obama has political reasons for moving slowly, and that the expectations of him or any other leader for action--not beliefs, but action--strike me as, frankly, ridiculous. It's like Paul Krugman the other day saying Obama shouldn't have compromised with Senate Republicans on the stimulus--fine, but that's how we wound up with a stimulus package in the first place, and if it isn't as good as we would like, blame the states that keep sending dimwits to Congress. The problem is not what you and I believe, and I am not convinced the problem is even what Obama believes personally, but the very problem you mention: that the LGBT community is still widely slimed and slandered.

[....Temujin... Khan..of..the..Yakka..Mongols...]

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...Better to be a "Nellie Queen" than a Loch Ness monster... Can you imagine what the Japs will pay for that critter if they ever catch it.. Sushi anyone..??
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