Obamo, right or wrong?? Some reactions from my viewpoint

This was posted over at multiply, and I decided that it was a good start on getting more material here for folks to read and react to. Remember be polite.

First of all, this is a political blog. I don't expect that everybody will agree, but I do expect that everybody will be polite. In fact, if they aren't their response, and possibly depending on my mood, the person will be removed (banned) from my site.

Alright, first of all, there are some things to get out of the way. First of all, I am unabashedly a liberal. As a gay person, I don't see how I can be anything else. Conservatives are certainly not, at least in general terms, the friends of the GLBT movement...that movement that says that I am a deserving human being. A human being worthy of any human rights that anybody else is. In fact as I see the conservative movement over the last few years, and its apparent marriage to the neo-con religious fringe (at least I hope they...people like Pat Robertson, are the fringe), I become ever stronger in my liberal take.

I am a democrat. What my pastor calls a yellow dog democrat. I will be honest and say I never, ever remember voting for a republican when a democrat was available to vote for. Why, read above and consider the "marriage" of the conservative movement with the Republican party. Nuff said.

Thirdly I believe that the federal government's most rightful place is generral public welfare. That is assuring that all people have rights and are treated humanely. Conversely because I live in the south and know about lynchings that happened with the constablory turning a blind eye in the 50's and 60's, I don't trust many localities to ensure EQUAL rights except as required by federal mandate. So in that sense I believe that power comes down from the feds...rightly. Putting equal rights up to a referendum was never the intent of the constitution.

Now with some background behind us, lets talk about the current situation. I will state simply that I voted for Obamo for several reasons. 1. He was a democrat. 2. he was an alternative to the "Bushite" actions that I feared from McCain. 3. He was for getting us out of Iraq...a war I have never supported. (by the way the one in Afghanistan I did support until we totally, in my opinion, lost our focus). 4. He was a little less hate filled about people like myself. (Gays in other words) and I thought and hoped a little less accessible to the ultra right. In fact, "working together" sounded pretty darn good to me.

So now I am simply torn. On one hand, I am beginning to be personally disappointed. While "working together" seemed like a good idea, it feels like at times that he is giving consideration to too many people. He hasn't got us out of Iraq yet, althought depending on what you read, it seems to be moving in a sort of right direction. Guantaumo is still functioning....a sign to my admittedly biased eyes, that we are meeting nastiness with nastiness...a sure way of continuing to bread new Islamic Jihadists who hate the United States...in fact providing the people trying to recruit with the very tool they need to get new people based on hate.

Now here comes the other shoe. I am personally disappointed, but less so than many. You see, I know very generally what it must be like being President. You have advisors with all sorts of ideas, and regardless of what you do, someone is going to be unhappy. As President, you have to try and weight whatever personal agenda and belief that you had, and have, as a human being, and what the nation seems to be crying out for. I know this because, for two years, I was "president" of an internet group. If you think such a position is easy, guess again. There were times when I felt like I was trying to herd a group of cats, and failing miserably. That was an internet group of less than 200, what must it be like to try to lead a 300 million citizen country, with an even wider range of opinion than I even had to consider.

In addition, as much as I wanted, and hoped for, a sudden change...an about face, and if I am honest, probably a reversal of the politics regarding GLBT and a lot of other areas, I do believe that the President is trying to govern in association with the other parties at the table...Congress and the Courts. Something that Bush, with his cowboy mentality, never did...spurning the United Nations and even advisors within the United States and taking a "my way or the hightway" approach in just about everything. A fact that lead Bill Maher to say that we have swung from one extreme to another...and I tend to agree somewhat.

I have long since said that nobody can expect to be totally happy....I still say that however, I have to admit that I am beginning to be more and more disappointed. I still haven't reached the point of blaming Obamo however. At least not totally.