Selective Memory

Here's an interesting bit by Chris Geidner at Law Dork, about Obama's long-range strategy for gay rights, applying some observations by Andrew Sullivan to the issue, which Sullivan does not address:

Although Andrew wasn’t writing about “gay issues” in his column, his analysis of Obama is proven all the wiser when applied to the LGBT concerns and issues that I’ve been focused on these past few weeks. Andrew’s conclusion, as well, might serve as a statement to LGBT activists, specifically:

[Obama] wants deep structural change, not swift superficial grandstanding and conflict. He is taking his time and keeping his cool. The question is whether a volatile [constituency] will be patient enough to wait.

Isn’t deep structural change what we want? Aren’t political grandstanding and culture-war conflicts the very problems that we, as LGBT activists, want to work to end?

Many people would say that we shouldn’t need to “wait” for equality, and they would be right. But let’s be clear that having the patience to take careful, intentional steps that will best accomplish our goals, which is Andrew’s point, is not the same thing as being told that our issues don’t matter and that we’ll just need to wait on our changes. This isn’t waiting for waiting’s sake; this is waiting so that solutions are real and permanent.

People want change and we want it now, but that’s not going to make it reality. Maybe, just maybe, if we give this President a chance, he could actually come through for us — with real, lasting equality advancements.

I have one question: how do you fit the notorious DoJ brief in Smelt into this "deep structural change"? Hmm? (Sorry, but that brief -- the administration's whole defense of DOMA -- could have been stopped anywhere in the process if anyone wanted to do it.) And how about the continuing discharges under DADT? While Gates explores "more humane" ways of applying the law? Strange that we got stop-loss orders under Bush, but not under Obama.

I think it's called "cherry-picking."

I need convincing, because this looks like more of the "just behave yourselves and wait until someone feels like giving you what everyone else already has" school of activism.