Obama, despite numerous campaign swings through North Carolina, has never publicly addressed the issue of Amendment One, and now is not even now “issuing a statement”, but rather authorizing (presumably – I’m giving him an unearned benefit of the doubt) an obscure campaign operative to parrot some passive voice boiler-plate rhetoric about “clear records” and “long opposition”. Hardly what I would call a profile in courage.

But before writing this, I thought it would only be fair to check the White House website’s Civil Rights section and see if the president has anything there to address the “divisive and discriminatory” situation in NC. Nothing. But here is what I DID find, under the heading “Strengthen Anti-Discrimination Laws”:

“He supports repealing Don’t Ask Don’t Tell in a sensible way that strengthens our armed forces and
our national security.”

So an administration which would have us believe that it is so very deeply committed to LGBT equality hasn’t even bothered to dust off and update its own Civil Rights webpage in well over a year.

You neglected to mention that he will also give everybody a pony in “the first few weeks of his next term”. That might REALLY get us excited about re-electing him (while we continue to enjoy blatant second-class citizenship in the meantime).

That commercial WORKS. I’d buy a corrosive, toxic chemical OR ammonia-treated meat from the one with the beard – even from a non-union grocery store. If only I could go back to sleep now!

Thanks for taking care of that.

Which of course is exactly what Obama is counting on. Democrats have been winning elections for the last 20 years (at least) based on the inspiring strategy of sucking just a tiny bit less than their Republican rivals.

Change is taking the family vacation in Martha’s Vineyard instead of Crawford.

Civil rights advocates, environmentalists, whistleblowers exposing government corruption – these are the people I was brought up to believe were the base of the Democratic Party. Hell, I thought they were the HEROS of the Democratic Party. Yet these are the people Obama hits with an iron fist – while sucking off John Boehner and Jamie Dimon.

I have to live with the shame of being conned by the Audacity of Hype in 2008. Never again. Let Rick Perry have this crumbling ruin of an Empire. Most of us won’t even notice the difference.

“The fact remains in 2012 your choice will be Obama, say Michelle Bachman, or some third party candidate. Obama’s counting on you’re being in a box. Face it, we all are. We have no place good to go.”

That mindset is precisely what Obama and the rest of the Dems are counting on – indeed, what they’ve been counting on for at least 20 years now. As long as they can scare you away from voting third party by sneaking up behind you and shouting “BACHMANN!! PALIN!!” then they have you right where they want you. And they will be free to dismantle Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and the EPA, all the while appeasing their corporate masters with the lowest tax rates in history and feeding the military-industrial machine with perpetual war. Vote for a Dem, and that’s what you’re supporting.

Politicians work hard to get the votes they think are up for grabs. Let them know that you will support their team no matter what, and you can kiss any hope of having your agenda addressed good-bye – forever.

Please forgive the redundancy, but I want to add another voice recommending the American Experience episode about Triangle. They really do a superb job of setting the fire within the historical context of the labor movement and presenting the Triangle workers as people actively fighting to create a better world, and not merely victims of a tragedy. The HBO doc is not without its merits, but the American Experience is, in my opinion, the superior of the two.