For the most important thing to know about Bill Clinton is that the man never takes a position based upon considerations of things like morality or justice. He takes positions based entirely upon a cold calculation of what will advance his political (and, of late, business) interests. If, for whatever reason, his cynical support for marriage equality gets in the way of his wife’s political career or a shady business deal with an Arab oil sheik, Clinton will abandon the cause faster than he fled the 1992 campaign trail to carry out the execution of Ricky Ray Rector, a mentally retarded black prisoner who had shot himself in the head after committing a double homicide.
To provide the most succinct and accurate description of the Clintons, I defer to someone who knows them all too well and who also happens to be the richest and most powerful gay man in America: David Geffen.
Explaining his surprise support for Barack Obama in the Democratic presidential primary, the record producer told Maureen Dowd of The New York Times, “Everybody in politics lies, but [the Clintons] do it with such ease, it’s troubling.”
Geffen, who raised millions of dollars for the Clintons and twice slept in the Lincoln bedroom, came late to recognizing the mendaciousness of this couple.
Hopefully other gays will follow his lead. Better late than never.
[For the full article, see here.]
This article is worth reading in its entirety. Although I disagree with the author of the above article, James Kirchick, regarding Clinton's initiation of DADT, which was in actuality considered at the time to be the lesser of two evils, the alternative being the summary dismissal of all Gay military personnel, he's right on the money regarding all of his other assessments of Bill Clinton.
Bill Clinton, using the label, "centrist" as a likely cover for his lack of any moral compass with which to navigate assorted political and even personal decisions he has made in his life, seems to be the role model that Obama is following in his decisions that affect LGBT people.
Obama's indolence regarding DADT, and his advocacy of discrimination against same-sex couples who wish to marry and also receive all of the many rights and benefits accorded heterosexual married couples, shows his disdain for this part of his constituency that he was able to seduce and energize into voting for him, despite his stated antipathy for same-sex marriage and his associations with the likes of the "ex-gay" Donnie McClurkin, and Rick Warren who was asked to give the prayer at his inauguration.
Perhaps it's not too late to come to terms with the fact that Obama can't be trusted to deliver on his promise to do away with DADT which, I reiterate, he could accomplish by the mere writing of a memo, unless he does so right before the next election if he feels that he'll get political mileage out of it by shoring up his "liberal" base.
Regarding DOMA, it's not at all likely to be repealed during his tenure as President. Indeed, his Department of Justice vigorously defended it.
Clearly, his antipathy toward same-sex marriage and his vigorous defense of DOMA which contradicts his electioneering rhetoric, puts the lie to his statements that he believes in equality and justice.
I can assure you that no matter who is running against him in 2012, I won't repeat the mistake I made last November by voting for him as the lesser of two evils.
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