Furibundum

Monday President Obama delivered yet another one of his health care reform talks , pushing same as of late, only this day he seemed particularly spirited, I must say. More like a campaign rally from back in the day. I don't have the cable out here, so I can't keep up on such things live as I could before, I have to watch after. Sometimes way after; I'm just now catching up. What he's hawking now is not quite the same though, as it was at the beginning, to be sure, but I suppose it is at least something. Clearly reform of our current health care racket is long overdue, so whatever it takes to pick up a Republican "aye" or a couple, I'll pretend that much is cool. Sometimes the gates of history swing on small hinges, as the saying goes; think the 1957 Civil Rights Act (why did I never learn of this?) Don't get me wrong, I have regard for what the president has managed thus far toward getting changed an awfully broke and corrupt system, despite opposit...

Like most other gay folks, I was gratified the other night to hear President Obama announce at the State of the Union address his intention to put repealing Don't Ask, Don't Tell on the agenda for 2010. Of course we were all hyped when we heard it the first time, too. Back when he was pandering the rainbow coalition for votes during his campaign, pledging to be a "fierce advocate" for LGBT rights. To start working toward getting rid of DADT during his first year as president was part of that promise. Not that he has totally snubbed us, I guess, but tagging him a "fierce advocate" is probably a stretch . It's really little wonder that much of the queer community reacted approvingly, but also with a fair amount of skepticism, the other night after hearing him vow again to do what he vowed once before with nothing gotten done so far. This DADT thing, I wouldn't think, should be such a big ordeal to get over and done with in short order. Even military p...

I had to give it an overnight rest to let pass the euphoria that I get whenever Obama talks to me. Had to let it wear off before I could process objectively about his State of the Union address last night. I already admitted that I knew it would happen, no matter my disappointment lately , once he did that thing he does so well when he opens up his mouth to speak. I had expected to get all giddy again, and I did. Frankly, I suppose I can't help but be biased still, but not only was the speech delivered with his regular panache, I think it did good tagging all the stuff that should have been tagged. Despite some thinking it was too much of a mashup of affairs ("they had decided to serve up a buffet of all of it" so thinks Politico "), I would suppose that if it had not, he would have been beaten up for being too à la carte. Really, he had no choice but to bring it all up, though. I mean, a year ago he did come to the table with an already full plate of less-than-savo...

Chris Matthews after covering President Obama's State of the Union address said : “I forgot he was black tonight for an hour." And there was that other time he said about then Senator Obama: "The fact that he's good at basketball doesn't surprise anybody." I don't think Chris Matthews is racist, but seriously... for making his career out of dissecting what everyone else might say and why did they say it, you'd think he might stay a bit more alert to what comes out of his own loud mouth.