Somebody else who influenced me, I actually had a professor at Occidental -- now, this is embarrassing because I might screw up his last name -- Lawrence Goldyn, I think it was. He was a wonderful guy. He was the first openly gay professor that I had ever come in contact with, or openly gay person of authority that I had come in contact with. And he was just a terrific guy. He wasn’t proselytizing all the time, but just his comfort in his own skin and the friendship we developed helped to educate me on a number of these issues.
Obama interview, in which he praises a man for eschewing a practice that exists only in the minds of panicked bigots.
What is it with this guy? He can't address anything without feeding into a misanthropic canard. It's reflexive with him, as is the dithering and vacillation with which he tries to clean it up. He must surely know the score, but he simply can't let go of the idea that there are right wing scapegoating votes for him to pick up. His pandering is morally grotesque and potentially quite harmful. In true Democratic tradition it's also useless to him in the election. He's not getting the right wing homophobe vote no matter what he does. Even if he's personally incapable of acceptance or tolerance, he has nothing to lose from evincing a relatively adult and sober point of view.
Comments (9)
Me on the other hand, I had this one black professor who was always trying to get me to . . . ah, fuck it.
Posted by IOZ | April 17, 2008 10:13 AM
Posted on April 17, 2008 10:13
Is it just me or is Obama coming on to liberal voters?
Posted by Nicholas Hart | April 17, 2008 10:43 AM
Posted on April 17, 2008 10:43
identity pols will be identity pols
smooth or rough
hip or square
ya ya
so he's soooo square
on the queer beat....like his white grandma
.....he has fears
fears
i might fuck him in the ass
one lonely nite after
we do up some ... heroin
big deal
to me he's
"out to sea...at a loss but still pandering "
on a bigger broader
more material front
at a loss out to sea
and still pandering
on the long class trench line
between himself
and the great
horde of wagered dismality
at a loss
along with another demo elitest pol
from illinois
a pre identity pol
a closet case in fact
http://www.accuracyproject.org/z-Stevenson,Adlai.jpg
Posted by op | April 17, 2008 12:15 PM
Posted on April 17, 2008 12:15
He ducks equal rights too, in that interview, as an issue so important that he feels morally obliged to leave the active fight solely in the hands of the people most concerned with the outcome, even if the full weight of right wing's religious/industrial complex is arrayed against them. He wouldn't want to cripple them by rejecting any canards.
Owen, yes, you're right. His identity ditherings and betrayals are a neat way to dodge the material realities. I'm not going to give him a break on those either.
Posted by Al Schumann | April 17, 2008 12:48 PM
Posted on April 17, 2008 12:48
Jesus Christ on a Segway.
Am I the only one here who thinks that Obama quote sounds like dialogue from an old Jules Feiffer cartoon?
"Whither thou goest, baby, I goest..."
Posted by Mike Flugennock | April 17, 2008 1:29 PM
Posted on April 17, 2008 13:29
It would be "divisive" not to root every public utterance in the unifying perspective of the ignorant jingoist bigot.
Posted by Michael Dawson | April 17, 2008 2:56 PM
Posted on April 17, 2008 14:56
what's happening to me ???
first i go soft on the kosniki
now i wave thru
obama's wispy analytics
has the ghost of gus hall
entered
my struggle pecker ???
allah intended me for mirth
not abidence
Posted by op | April 17, 2008 4:51 PM
Posted on April 17, 2008 16:51
btw
i suspect its clear to one and all
but if not
i take this line
"He wasn’t proselytizing all the time"
as not a pander to homophobics
but the words of ...a not very well
recovered homophobic
it has a naive quality
that lacks the slick
of pander patter to it
Posted by op | April 17, 2008 5:19 PM
Posted on April 17, 2008 17:19
I would never make this a litmus test for the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Obviously, there are so many issues that a member of the Joint Chiefs has to deal with, and my paramount obligation is to get the best possible people to keep America safe.
And if the best person to keep us safe is a Nazi skinhead, hey, whaddya gonna do?
Incidentally, the whole gay thing is what led me to become apathetic about voting. If I recall correctly, the 2004 election was between a guy who really didn't like gay people, and a guy who didn't really like gay people.
I think I ended up voting for the second guy, but I couldn't come up with a reason why gay rights wouldn't be important enough for a person to say "fuck it" and stay home.
Obama's message here is, "don't expect much from me."
I would be astonished if McCain or Hillary would be any better.
Posted by Christopher | April 17, 2008 5:29 PM
Posted on April 17, 2008 17:29