The advocacy of gay rights was one of the hot topics where Pres. Obama found an audience of eager listeners, and it served him well.
Now it seems Pres. Obama has no intention on seeing those changes come to fruition before he runs for re-election. And make no bones about it, he will run for re-election.
In yesterday's Los Angeles Times' editorial, the board of editors made a couple of great observations. They said, "Obama ... has shown a dishearteningly pragmatic willingness to allow the issue of gay rights to languish. The many Americans who support these rights expect better of him."
This is true, and something many Auburn students have expressed in the last week.
I've heard students discussing this issue, and, no matter their sexual orientation or political affiliation, have been disappointed in the way things are being handled.
Politics is a waiting game, and I understand some things are more complicated than we citizens are allowed to know, but does Obama really want to sacrifice his respect and believability for a shot at another term?
What's worse is he is giving gay and lesbian couples a consolation prize to tide them over while they wait another X number of years to finally be seen equally in the eyes of the law. He did this by announcing that benefits will be extended to the same-sex partners of federal employees.
Obama needs to go back to his candidate speeches and heed his own words before tackling this issue again:
"I'm running for president to build an America that lives up to our founding promise of equality for all -- a promise that extends to our gay brothers and sisters. It's wrong to have millions of Americans living as second-class citizens in this nation. And I ask for your support in this election so that together we can bring about real change for all LGBT Americans."
If he does, he may be guaranteed a second term.
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