Where do I Stand?

President Obama announced yesterday in a interview that he supports gay marriage. Actually, this is no shock he actually supported it in 1996 and played the political banter in 2008 of "civil union" obviously to get elected. His announcement was amazingly consistent with the work he has done before with Hate Crimes legislation, the repeal of DADT, the appointment of a transgender woman in his administration etc. What is more concerning to me is the myriad of responses especially from my left, liberal and moderate communities. ( I am not a moderate) Thier reactions since he took office in Jan '09 have been intermittent, inconsistent, patronizing and sometimes just hostile. Even with the repeal of DADT, you would have thought it took him a lifetime as opposed to his FIRST TERM! Each piece of legislation that has been introduced to bring relief to the American people has been met with disdain and mistrust. Now with this stated, everything President Obama has done has not been angelic, his partnership with Monstato foods, authorizing the frisk and search without cause(?), reducing the amount of funding to HBCU's( he should be ashamed), and his navigating around racial issues particular African -American have pretty dreadful. As I stated before, when it come to navigating the racial terrain this administration gets an F-. I state this because again my support of my President is not blind but it is consistent. I am looking for  a politician who can be reasoned with, who has the concern of the most vulnerable people in our society as a priority, who is intelligent, has strong skills in foreign relations and understands the laws of the land. I am confident that President Obama is that politican. He has proven to be a man of principle, who has tackled each of his campaign promises, he is level-headed in the midst of an  hostile atmosphere, he has feminist idealogies and  for me he is true Statesman. My concern is after these past four years, I have become really disillusioned in my progressive communities. I have always defined myself by my political beliefs and the communities that adhere or are strongly alligned. Now, I find they are cynical and divisive. You have to question and critique, I believe in that especially in these times when greed seems to be a motiviating factor for the American goverment but when there  are pieces of legislation that can help us, put down the weapons temporarily and get on board. The amount of energy spent on dismissing the Health Care reform could have been used to mobilize to get that public option as part of the package. To me that was a moment of failure for the American people where fear overan logic. Instead of critcizing when the President announced his support, start mobilizing to get this moved forward. I wanted to grow extra arms so I could single handly get that public option forward, it one of those moments I will never  understand, why? So, now while my progressive agenda has not changed my view of members of the movement has but if I can take my President and his faults I can do the same with the progressive community. Just now the same eye the question him, is the same eye I question them.
#PresidentObama #MarriageEquality