Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Obama may be a 21st Century Lincoln; Lincoln pushed equality for black Americans, so will Obama push equality for homosexual Americans?

 Obama’s handling of the Warren issue could be the same as Lincoln’s handling of the slavery issue. He tried to dodge it, and worked up to the emancipation. History judges hijm by what he did, not by the journey he took on the way.

It is possible, not just because of all the fussing from the gay community and allies, but because the issue of homosexuals in the military is on the table, the denial of the right to marry, etc., that Obama will have to make a choice on the legal and moral basic rights of homosexual citizens. If he is truly the person a slight majority of voters believe and hope he is, including a majority of homosexual voters, but, sadly, a minority of black voters, he will sooner or later beforced, as other presidents have been on other civil rights issues, to support equal civil rights for all Americans, including homosexuals.

After adequate time, if he has not done what our Constitution and Bill of Rights direct him to do, then will be the time to find someone else who will do the right thing. (The first major step and evidence will be his appointments to the U S Supreme Court and to the Justice Department. AND, it is also the responsibility of the House and Senate to do what they should do, with or without the president.)

A startling thought would be if Obama fails the test of history, as Lincoln did not, it could be that the next president will be a Republican who WILL follow Lincoln’s journey.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

A Republican as President will be an utter gay disaster, even worse than the one that the current Bush has been, at least in part because he or she will almost certainly come in with a strengthened and emboldened far Right and "nutty" fundamentalist establishment.

BUT all this is VERY premature at just this time. The "next four years" hasn't even yet started as of today.

Billy Glover said...

I'm 76 so won't be around to find out most of this, BUT it is sure interesting to think about what could possibly happen. If Obama does half good that will probably do for another 4 years. (Not sure if Middle East, etc will affect how he does or not) But there is a debate-as on Andrew Sullivan's webpage- about if the Republicans/conservatives will "learn" from their mistake of dwelling on social issues, or, as you say, go even further to that extreme, arguing that they lost because they were not anti-gay enough.

Anonymous said...

76 + 4 or 8 is 80 or 84. I will be 84 in May and I'm still around -- at least for the moment at 83 -- so so may you be. How much more than 84 remains to be seen, of course. ;-)

Billy Glover said...

And our blessing is that you are not only existing, but are living, making life unpleasant for our enemies. So keep it up. Obama, et al, need to hear from people like you who have not only said things, but backed the words up with action.