But the downside of remaining silent in the face of this kind of Obama flip-flop is far more risky, IMHO. History is instructive.

We should not forget the 18 years of ‘Don’t Ask Don’t Tell’ which ensued when a rookie President Clinton pulled the same kind of ‘about face’ (literally) with the gay community. We were told then to keep quiet and trust our new friend in the White House to look out for gay rights interests. We should not give ‘ammo’ to his critics. Yadda. Yadda.

Contrary to that ‘just trust us’ advice, we got even worse, federally mandated discrimination with DADT– and it was codified in a way that tied all future presidents to DADT, without an unlikely reversal act by the congress.

A Democratic president ‘compromise’ on official ‘DADT’ discrimination, in turn, became the chief excuse in congress NOT to support ENDA. The unspoken reasoning went… “Heck, if a Democrat president can support discrimination in the U.S. Armed Forces, why can’t state, local and private employers do likewise?” So ENDA languished– for nearly TWO decades more– and maybe still is.

But the cascading, chilling impact of Clinton’s reversal of his military non-discrimination stance in his ’92 campaign was even more destructive of LGBT civil rights– also for the better part of TWO decades.

Virtually all LGBT civil rights progress at the federal legislative level came to an end, as well, all but dropping off Congress’ radar screen. And that, in turn, halted what could have been much faster legislative progress at state and local levels, too. If hadn’t been for some landmark court decisions (Romer, Lawrence, MA, HI, e.g.) and President Clinton’s subsequent Executive Orders and other actions–
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executive_Order_13087
– well, it would have been a very dry 16 years for LGBT civil rights, indeed.

This latest move, ruling out an Obama Executive Order to prohibit discrimination by federal contractors is a White House gaffe of potentially great proportions– similar to Clinton’s reversal in ’93.

Nearly everyone last week immediately recognized it as bald-faced hypocrisy. But it is not really the ‘smart’, politically expedient move either. From a twisted viewpoint, it is just as puzzling.

Exactly what net votes has the Obama campaign gained by this decision? It’s far more likely they’ve lost votes by flip-flopping and employing insulting doublespeak against their base. IMO, they have clearly done some damage to their LGBT and liberal base voter blocs.

History also reminds us that even great, highly intelligent presidents make serious, if unintentional mistakes. FDR, Truman and JFK all reversed course or admitted mistakes on initial decisions that were clearly ill-considered. But, because it didn’t have to happen too often, those are considered noble,even endearing episodes, now.

So all in all, it is good thing that liberal, conservative and independent ‘dogs’ of all sorts are ‘barking’ — reminding this WH in 2012 of its sudden anti-LGBT hypocrisy.

This president ought to get control of his political peeps and do the right thing– because that’s usually the kind of guy he is known to be.

(We still love Bo, tho.)
;)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qkuu0Lwb5EM&feature=fvst

These hacks apparently now arrogantly believe human rights– such as the right to be free from unwarranted employment discrimination– are theirs to bestow upon the people based upon patronage and the whims of their election-year schedules.

They need to be reminded (and in ways they will understand politically) that human rights inure to people from birth into the human species. Governments and governmental leaders can only affirm and protect those existing human rights through appropriate executive, legislative and/or judicial action.

By dodging his ethical responsibility to issue an Executive Branch order, as is within his easy power as the people’s chief federal contracting executive, President Obama has become tacitly COMPLICIT in federal contractors’ anti-LGBT discrimination against their employees.

This WH decision will do real harm to a number of LGBT victims, and their families, who are just trying to make a living with some dignity and respect in a tough economy. That’s more than a convenient political flip-flop by this president. It is a profound act of betrayal.

President Obama should reconsider, and do the right thing.