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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsHeckling
OK, let's not mince words.
If, in a democracy, you cannot handle hecklers, you need to find another line of work. Obama got famous because he could endure hecklers with grace.
That being said,
the first amendment does not mean that people cannot consider you a fool if you are rude, and that they cannot hold you accountable.
That being said,
If the Obama administration was not so timid about LGBT rights, they would not be in this mess. We all know that the GOp kept blasting the messages "Supporting Gays means losing elections!" and that many democrats, including Hillary's husband, also kept that message alive. Yes, we might very well have lost the election if Obama was the "agressive advocate" but we also might have won more, by letting the GOP know they will not be able to keep using the damned churches to blow dog whistles!
That being said,
We do not need a playbook to know that the GOP will happily play blacks and gays against each other, and you knwo they are smoking cigars knowing that is exactly what happened. Equality has to work for everyone, and that means, for both b lacks and gays, that you have to work for everyone, even if, and especially if, someone offers you your rights at the expense of others. We know that some conservative black candidates are being tuned up (like Cory Booker) and that some LGBT conservatives (like Glenn Greenwald) are being tuned up so they can fight each other so that no one looks at the wizards behind the curtains.
patrice
(47,992 posts)cliffordu
(30,994 posts)And there will always be those who will judge in perfect hindsight with what the Prez should or shouldn't have done.
That being said, the work continues and that idiot interrupting Michelle is less the activist and more of a celebrity wannabe.
That being said, Executive orders can be overturned by the next president who don't like the one Obama would sign.
That being said:
Maybe working to register voters or interrupting Saxby Chambliss or Cantor or that fucking pukebag McConnell might be a better use of her time.
I would LOVE to have seen Michelle walk down there and offer the mike.
Bluenorthwest
(45,319 posts)a very marvelous advocate, so much so that some of his more centrist politics get a large amount of leeway from me. Take a look a Cory for me....
Skidmore
(37,364 posts)any of us. I have a problem with people complaining about overreach of the executive while insisting on overreach to address their specific issue. I do believe that executive orders are answers to deeply entrenched systemic issues. They are temporary fixes which can be dismissed by the next opposition administration that comes into power. I am extremely concerned that when a Republican administration does come in, that it will be reactionary in the extreme because that party has become so radicalized and unreasonable. The target they will aim for will be broad--blacks, Hispanics, LGBTQ, women, workers. While some spin their wheels in cutesy political theatre, what goes on behind the curtain right now is the forcing of the platforms for radical conservatism into law. It bothers me that theatre detracts from this and is being used to cement divisions.