As we approach the 100-day mark of his presidency, Barack Obama has high levels of popularity and we are all still hopeful he will lead us all toward a more peaceful, prosperous and equal future.
He has signed the most costly single piece of legislation in American history with the nearly $800 billion fiscal stimulus that rewrites the role of government in energy, education, health care, infrastructure and science. He has also started to figure out how to get troops out of Iraq and into Afghanistan and has sought to build a new American image in the world, with major summits in Europe and Latin America. Obama has too, ended the limits on stem cell research, ordered the closure of the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and released secret legal memos on terror interrogations.
However, we have yet to see how any of that is going to work out yet.
Now I am not going to say Mr. Obama has not been a very busy man… but I would like to point out that when he was running for office he also did some serious courting of the LGBT community for both votes and money, especially during the primaries when he was trying to overcome the Clintons, and he made quite a few promise to get them.
Last week Lez Get Real ran a poll asking: Do you think President Obama will keep his promises to the LGBT community in the U.S.?
32.0%, said No, Obama only made promises to get our vote, with another 11.0% saying that once he got into office his agenda for us changed.
40.0% said they think it’s just a matter of time before he does keep his promises.
The reminder either didn’t know or didn’t care.
By my math, that is 43 percent of our community who seems thinks Mr. Obama has had his way with us queer folk and has kicked us out of bed without giving us any cab fare. I’d say that is a rather significant portion.
So lets look at what Barack promised and the progress he has made on those promises so far.
http://lezgetreal.com/?p=11628&cpage=1
LINK TO AN ASSOCIATED THREAD I STARTED IN GDP--------------->http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=8378627&mesg_id=8378627
Stand by Your Word, Mr. President: End "Don't Ask, Don't TellPresident Obama is a brave man. He doesn't hesitate to take great political risks. He asked Congress for billions to save the banking system and more billions to stimulate the economy -- and Congress handed them to him. Not everyone looked happily on the trillions we'll be facing in debt, but in a Washington Post-ABC News poll released Sunday he still got a 69 percent approval rating -- the highest of any president at the 100-day mark in 20 years -- and 72 percent of Americans said they have a favorable impression of him. Not since Ronald Reagan's first 100 days has a president done so well. Obama is not only living up to most Americans' expectations, he's exceeding them.
So here we have a decisive president who's not afraid to act boldly on the economy. He takes the enormous risk of allowing the release of the torture memos, and even so more Americans approve of that controversial act than disapprove. Majorities say that that the country has turned around and is now headed in the right direction, and that he's kept his campaign promises.
That's a lot of political capital, and political capital is political power. The president may never have a better moment. There is, however, one campaign promise he's been silent on since he was elected in November: the repeal of "don't ask, don't tell." It's still up there on the White House website. "President Obama agrees with former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff John Shalikashvili and other military experts that we need to repeal the 'don't ask, don't tell' policy," it says. "The key test for military service should be patriotism, a sense of duty, and a willingness to serve. Discrimination should be prohibited. The U.S. government has spent millions of dollars replacing troops kicked out of the military because of their sexual orientation. Additionally, more than 300 language experts have been fired under this policy, including more than 50 who are fluent in Arabic. The President will work with military leaders to repeal the current policy and ensure it helps accomplish our national defense goals."
There is no ambiguity in that statement. We like it just fine, but the question is, where's the beef? The president is a man of words, and he knows how to use them very well. He knows their value and he knows their power, and I still like to think that he's a man of his word. I am sure of it, in fact. That's why I'm puzzled by the complete and total silence from the White House on this issue that is vitally important not only to the 65,000 gay and lesbian service members now in the military but also to the security of our country. Firing 50 men and women who are fluent in Arabic solely because they are gay when we are fighting in the Arabic-speaking world? The mind boggles.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/aubrey-sarvis/stand-by-your-word-mr-pre_b_191759.html
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