Veteran reporter Rex Wockner scored a one-on-one interview with the guy who is probably the ultimate Obama insider of the gay persuasion. Steve Hildebrand served as the Obama’s deputy national campaign director during the election and apparently still has the President’s ear.
Rex Wockner: There’s probably nobody who’s talked to Barack Obama more about gay stuff than you — and you’ve done so within the last couple of weeks. Since he’s come under fire for allegedly talking a really good talk but not walking the walk, yet, on gay and lesbian issues … what did you talk about in that meeting you had with him?
Steve Hildebrand: I told him very clearly that many in the gay community across the country are getting very anxious and that folks have felt very hurt by the Justice Department brief — the language that was used in it. He reassured me that he will not disappoint the gay community during his time as president, that the promises he made during the campaign are promises he will fulfill, and he was very forthright about his commitment to equality. And, people will accuse me — probably rightfully so — that I’m a Kool-Aid drinker, that I believe in this guy, but I’ve been around a lot of very important politicians in my lifetime and I think this guy is different and I do trust him to do what is right. I also believe that he knows how to get things done, and that he will make a significant difference in a positive way in the lives of gay and lesbian Americans.
Hildebrand, when asked about the flak the President has been getting from bloggers and progressive activists, says, “(Barack Obama) has told me, and he has told … staff in the White House that pressure’s a good thing, so people should continue to put pressure on him.”
That can be arranged.
Wockner and Hildebrand chat about the Department of Justice’s heinous, loathsome, odious DOMA brief. Wockner points out that the Obama Administration will get a do-over this fall:
Rex: This same Justice Department is going to have to file another brief in (another federal gay marriage) case in October. Do you think it’s likely we’re going to see something different this time?
Steve: I hope so, I don’t know so. I certainly don’t profess to be somebody who has intimate knowledge of what’s going on at the Justice Department. I hope the outrage that has come — not just from the gay community but from others — about how pathetic the first brief was, that we will expect to see something more improved. You know, I have a little bit different perspective. I, like most people, was not at all happy with the language that was used, but better language would not have changed the end result of what the Justice Department was ruling on. I would like to see the Justice Department take a dramatic step and disagree that DOMA is a constitutional law.
Perhaps California Attorney General Jerry Brown‘s example in opposing Prop H8 could serve as an example. If something is just plain wrong, have the guts to step up and make it right.
Hildebrand makes an excellent point about how we’re not making our case and why:
Steve: I don’t think our voices are as powerful as they should be. I think too many people in the gay community do not push their elected officials as hard as they should. If you had 20 gay people together in a room and asked how many of them actually have reached out and either called, e-mailed or sent a letter to their member of Congress over the last two months, I would say the vast, vast majority of them will have done nothing. My suggestion is that people need to become strong activists, that we need to multiply by hundreds the number of activists we have in the gay community. We need more voices, we need louder voices, and we need to tell politicians at every level we’re not willing to take their excuses anymore.
He’s right. In addition to the GLBT masochists who vote Republican, we have huge numbers of GLBT citizens who are not even registered to vote and a gazillion more who might be registered but don’t vote. In addition to that once-every-couple-of-years thing you do in the voting booth, one of the real joys of American citizenship is pummeling your elected leaders with your opinions on everything under the Sun. Pick up the phone. Write a letter. Send an email. Annoy them until they do what you tell them to do, because until the gays get this habit, we’re all doomed to wait for full and unconditional equality.
Hildebrand loses a few points when he trots out the familiar Obama’s-been-so-busy-with-other-crap mantra. Of course Truman, Kennedy and Johnson had nothing on their plates, so they had plenty of time to spare for the important civil rights issues of their day.
An excellent exchange on the cowards who managed to elected to Congress follows:
Rex: There’s been all this pressure on Obama but nobody’s really yelling at Congress. Why aren’t we yelling at Congress too?
Steve: Everybody should use their voices very loudly until we’ve achieved full equality. I do think that we’ve seen disappointment from politicians — Democrat and Republican — for too many decades now of people who say, “Yes, we support equality,” but then they go to Washington and they don’t do anything about it. They’re too wrapped up in figuring out how to win their next election and they’re not concerned enough about doing what’s right for the American people. And I think, I firmly believe that politicians should stop being so spineless and start being real leaders, and actually doing things that have a dramatic impact in a positive way on people’s lives.
If our rights as American citizens are back-burnered until elected politicians stop being spineless, we’re frickin’ doomed.
The spineless Pelosi, while rumored to be a friend of the gays (the citizens of San Francisco do keep sending her back to DC), but Pelosi is barely even talking the talk these days.
Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid said yesterday, “Democrats aren’t looking to Senator Franken’s election as an opportunity to ram legislation through this body.” With Al Franken, the Dems finally get a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate, and Harry Reid isn’t going to take advantage of that to bitch-slap the Grand Obstructionist Party and actually get business done?
WTF!
Hildebrand ultimately offers some solid suggestions for getting the people our votes and money put in Congress to act:
Rex: What do you do to make Congress act? … How do I get my congresswoman’s attention?
Steve: You should call her office, you should show up at events, whether it’s a town hall or another event that she might be at, and try to address her in person, you should write her a letter, you should write a letter to the editor, which calls upon her to take action that you’re requesting, you should not make a contribution to her campaign, and encourage others not to contribute, if she is not showing leadership on our issues. There’s a whole bunch of ways.
To which I’d add: And never take “no” or “wait” for an answer.
