I walked into the convention hall today, on my way to the LGBT Caucus (and on my way to pick up a credential to get me into the Pepsi Center today), when I saw San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsome. After what he did in San Francisco, and what came of it on the California Supreme Court, I couldn’t just pass him by. (It didn’t hurt that he was taller and more handsome in person than he is in his pictures.) I had to stop and thank him.
I told him, I was just on my way to the LGBT caucus and that just wanted to stop and thank him. To which he responded “Thank you!” One of his aides overheard me say where I was going, and invited me to walk with them since they were going to the LGBT caucus too.
And then we stepped into the hall, and heard the announcement that Del Martin just passed away. She died quietly, surrounded by her family and friends. There was a gasp, and a moment of stunned silence.
And as I thought about Del, I realized that before she died she got to do something that perhaps she never thought she would: after 55 years together, she got to marry the woman she loved. Something Gavin Newsome helped happen, and something that some people with deep-pockets want to keep us from doing.
My reaction? “Goddamn and Holy Shit! She did it!” I’m (finally) sitting here in the bloggers’ lounge at the Pepsi Center, where I heard her speech, and from where I sit, she did what she needed to do.
In the first two sentences, she unequivocally supported Barrack Obama. Then she talked about her campaign — about the people she was in it for — and then she laid it on the line with one question: “Were you in it for me? Or were you in it for them?”
The answer was clear: You’ve got to be in it for them, and if you’re in it for them, you’ve got to elect Barrack Obama.
Have you been watching the Democratic National Convention on television? If so, you’ve already seen more of it than I have, I’m in Denver for the supposed purpose of blogging about the convention. (More on that later.) So, what are your thoughts? Can you tell m what I missed. I’m hoping to have time to watch Edward Kennedy’s and Michelle Obama’s speeches via YouTube, if I can find (a) the time and (b) a reliable wifi connection.
I’m probably sticking my neck out here, and so I’ll preface this by saying that I’m supporting Obama for president and will vote for him in November.
That said, I have been wanted to ask one question of progressives talking about Obama moving to the center. And I ask knowing that s a black gay man, a college-educated, white-collar worker, and non-Christian who doesn’t live in a southern state, and who’s further to the left than anyone the Democrats are going to put up for office, I’m probably among the least important and least relevant voters in this election.
It’s come to this. The long downward slide may not end here, but it’s brought us what should — if we’re lucky — be the nadir of American politics: a point at which characteristics that in any other circumstances would be admirable in just about anyone are actually undesirable if that person is running for president.
Never mind being unfit for office. It’s now entirely possible to be too fit for office.
You can tell a lot about a person by what in their medicine cabinet. A quick peek during a trip to the bathroom and the nosey neighbor could find out whose taking anti-depressants or birth control pills. Maybe someone is being treated for heart disease or bipolar disorder. Or perhaps someone is taking antibiotics for any number of conditions, from a sinus infection to an STD. Certain medicines, if you know what to look for, are a clear sign that someone is undergoing treatment for cancer of HIV.
Of course, most of keep to ourselves what medications we’re taking. That’s why they’re behind the medicine cabinet door, and not lined up on the kitchen counter. Most of us don’t go snooping in other people’s medicine cabinets. (Do we?) And if we did, the worst we could do with the information is use it to spread gossip.
That is, unless we’re in the business of looking into other people’s medicine cabinets, using the information obtained by those who are in that business.
I only glanced at the headline, because I was up to my ears in work. But what I read was enough to give me a sick feeling; the kind you get when you begin to wonder whether you’ve made a disastrous choice, or cast your lot with exactly the wrong person. (It’s a feeling at least some Bush voters, circa 2004, should be familiar with.) The headline? “Obama to Expand Bush’s Faith Based Programs.”
Reaching out to religious voters, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama called for expanding President Bush’s program steering federal social service dollars to religious groups and — in a move sure to cause controversy — supported some ability to hire and fire based on faith.
Obama unveiled his approach to getting religious charities more involved in government anti-poverty programs during a tour and remarks Tuesday at Eastside Community Ministry, which provides food, clothes, youth ministry and other services.
“The challenges we face today … are simply too big for government to solve alone,” Obama said.
Obama’s announcement is part of a series of events leading up to Friday’s Fourth of July holiday that are focused on American values.
Expand them? And here I’d been hoping — but not praying — that maybe getting the next Democrat in the White House would ashcan the whole idea.
Well, it’s pretty clear by now that I’m not going to get anything posted today, or any significant writing done. Today was Parker’s pre-school graduation, so that most of our afternoon (including dinner at Parker’s favorite restaurant.) I’ve got two or three things in mind to write about, but I’ve had them in mind for more than a week and still can’t find time to actually write about them. It’s not likely to happen this weekend either.
In the meantime, there are a lot of folks doing some great writing about some pretty interesting stuff. So, you can read them while I’m doing whatever it is that I’m doing.
I can only think of one moment in my memory that compares to this. It was when I stood in front of my television and watched the Berlin wall come down, live on CNN. I’m not yet sure that another wall has come down now. In fact, I’m more certain that significant portions of it still stand, and some may have been reinforced.
But there’s an opening now. It was there before, but it’s much, much wider now. Through it, we can just see the other side, and even have more hope of reaching it.
I only wish my father had lived to see this moment. After all he saw and experienced in his lifetime, I’m sure it would have done his heart some good. If I actually get to go to the convention and cover it, now that I’m credentialed along with the rest of the bloggers at Pam’s House Blend, I’m sure I’ll be thinking about him. And maybe again at inauguration. Maybe I will have the chance to take Parker to downtown D.C., to the inauguration, to witness the moment. He may not grasp the significance then, but he will when he remembers. And he will remember. I know I will.
But tonight, when I get home, I’ll take down from the shelf a project Parker and I have been working on for a while now. It started around the time that my son finally started to notice race, and perhaps he even perceived more about the differences made between people based on race than he had words to express. Wanting to pass on to him an idea of his heritage, and what people who look like him have and can accomplish, I decided we would start a photo album.
First, we put in family pictures, and I explained to him who each person in each picture was. Then we moved on to African Americans who are famous for their accomplishments. I tried to pick people whose accomplishments matched his interests — a black race car driver, because at the time Parker was into race cars; a black astronaut, because for a minute he wanted to be an astronaut; a black composer whose songs are among those I sing to him at night, when it’s my turn to put him to bed. We paste the pictures into the book, and then a short paragraph about that person, which I would read to him.
It’s our little history book, I guess. And tonight we’ll put Barak Obama’s picture in that book. For both of us, it will be an example of what he can accomplish. I will look my son in the eye and say to him what my parents said to me: “You can do anything, and be anything you want if you work hard at it. You could even be the president.” The difference is that when my parents said it to me, it was a dream — perhaps a belief in what the future and their country could be.
Tonight, when I say those words to my son, it will still be a dream just this side of reality; but a dream within reach, where it has never really been before.
And, after a long period of neutrality during he primaries, I guess it’s finally time to finally declare myself. From this point on I’m an Obama supporter.
You discover all sorts of things, when you check out your incoming links. Like the fact that Matthew Yglesias is apparently all moved in to his new home at Think Progress, and has added me to his blogroll. I've returned the favor, which reminds me that it's probably time I updated the blogroll again...
I probably shouldn't say this, but I work on K Street. I've even bumped into Robert Novak once, when we were both pedestrians, crossing the street in opposite directions. Now, I'll have remember to keep an eye out, and look both ways before I cross the street, lest Robert Novak run into me.
I don't really care about the Madonna/Alex Rodriguez affair story, because I'm not married to either of them. But in this day and age why would anyone (who's not "in the business" and getting paid for it) intentionally record their sexcapades on video? Why, when there are a thousand different ways for someone to get and distribute that video? How dumb do you have to be to make a 'sex tape' nowadays?
Maybe I'm taking this the wrong way, and I know these aren't Warren Buffett’s actual words of widsom, but nothing irritates me more than hearing things like "Happiness comes from within," and "Find happiness in simple pleasures." From a billionaire? Easy for him to say...
Gimmick or no gimmick, I would sodance with Lance. Hey, I took ballroom dancing in college, and was pretty good at it. Later, I learned to two-step in a gay C&W bar, and was pretty popular because I was a good follower. Not like dragging around a sack of potatoes. So, Lance, you can lead if you want to...
I knew there was a reason I'm not buying an iPhone today. (Besides the fact that I don't "need" one, and the reality that I don't need to spend that much on a tech purchase. It looks like Apple's having a pretty bad day, along with people who did buy iPhones that currently don't work due to server problems.
My friends and I used to joke that in D.C. it's a law that in DC, you're never more than a block from Starbucks. When tourists stop me and ask where's nearest Starbucks, I usually end up pointing in three different directions. But that may change.
Posts
Entries (RSS)