Interesting commentary

[eleri]

On Matt Steinglass blog, found via Andrew Sullivan

I missed an excellent post the other day from Spencer Ackerman citing Trita Parsi of the NIAC:

It was important, Parsi said, for any non-Iranian organization wishing to show solidarity with the opposition to ensure that “anything they do is two steps behind the opposition and not two steps ahead.”

I just wanted to point out that this has always been Obama’s MO. He’s always a step or two behind where his supporters want him to be, getting pulled along by their enthusiasm, rather than out ahead of them where he might get cut off. It’s a community organizer’s MO. You never get out ahead of your constituency. Instead you shape the playing field so that your constituency’s desires flow towards where you think they should go, and allow them to carry you along behind them.

Very interesting. I wonder where this fits in to his seeming backtracking on GLBT issues lately. White House officials are reiterating his commitment to GLBT reform, even in the wake of recent dissapointments.

Richard Kim, a senior editor at The Nation magazine says while Obama has disappointed the gay community, he still has some time to make good on his campaign promises. "I think people will wait through the first two legislative sessions,but then after that some of this stuff does need to move to the front,"

From the same article:

White House Spokesman Robert Gibbs said Obama will keep his word.
"[Extending benefits to same-sex couples] is a matter of fairness. The president is committed to ensuring that fairness as well as working on and fulfilling other promises that he has made in the campaign around things like 'don't ask, don't tell,' " Gibbs said.

Hmm, interesting... get the GLBT community wriled up and very vocal, and then step up, so it looks like your reacting to the populace, not trying to change things and convincing people it's what should happen?

Hmmm.

Comments

[asim.livejournal.com]

...oh, hey, look. Bunged up my tags.
What I get for writing just after I woke up.

[eleri.livejournal.com]

No LJ before coffee!

Yeah, my brain keeps percolating it around... on one hand it seems kinda sneaky and mean, because of the stress to the GLBT community, and shouldn't leaders y'know, *lead*...

But on the other hand, was there a layer of complacency that happened? "Obama won, we'll just sit back and let him fix things, now". Maybe, in a make lemonade sense, Prop8 winning was good, because it kept the fires lit.