Time Magazine cover portrait by Shepard Fairey Looks like it will be a while before Rex Wockner gets around to posting my response to "I ask gay VIPs how they feel about the new president and what they think he will accomplish for GLBT people," since he's only up to #25 on his blog - Bruce Vilanch.
Actually, I'm still waiting to get Rex's email. Guess the internet tubes iz all clogged up with the inaugural and shit right now.
So here's your Head Trucker's thoughts; just wanted all my Truckbuddies to read it here first:
How do I feel about Obama? On one level, ecstatic. I know it's a great, joyful moment for African-Americans and all that, but when I look at him, I don't see a black President. I see my President. My leader, someone who's on my side. Who cares about me, and my life. Been way too long feeling like the leader of my country is on the other side of a great big wall, fencing me out. But now I don't feel a disconnect between me and my country; I've never felt so proud to be an American as I do right now.
But on another level, as Bishop Robinson said in his prayer yesterday, I see Obama as a mortal man, not a Messiah. I've lived too long to be fooled into that kind of thinking about anybody. He's going to make mistakes, he's going to disappoint people, circumstances will come up that block his best efforts, and of course despite all the fine talk about bringing Change to Washington, he will have to play political games sometimes. That's simply reality. Nobody gets it right all the time. You go back and read about Washington, Lincoln, FDR, Kennedy, etc., they all made their screw-ups and stumbles too. It's the human condition.
I had great hopes for Clinton, but he was in the long run a big disappointment, though infinitely better than the guy who succeeded him. Obama won't do everything I would like to see him do, both because he is, like every other man and woman, a flawed and fallible human being; and also because he is President of a republic, not an absolute monarch or dictator, so his powers are limited.
But I foresee that he will do some good, even great things both for the gays and for the whole country. I expect that by the time he leaves office 8 years from now - and please God the unthinkable apprehensions of danger so many of us feel for him but are afraid to say out loud will not come to pass - that by then we will have universal healthcare in this country, an end to the imperialistic wars, a stabilized and prosperous economy, a return to constitutional government, better friendships and dialogues abroad, the repeal of DADT and DOMA, the passage of ENDA, marriage equality or civil unions in most states, federal tax and pension benefits for gay couples, immigration rights ditto, and a new atmosphere in the land of liberty, justice, and respect for all people, for individuals of every race, color, gender, and orientation.
But most of all, I hope to see a new spirit at work in the gay community, positive, effective, constructive, non-violent, committed to working for change and practicing tolerance and respect worthy of free men and women. Creating a vision of gay life that means being open, honest, contributing members of the whole community of Americans, an integrated life that gives young gays and lesbians something to aspire to, be proud of. Not a life hidden away, secret, frustrated, spent sitting on a barstool, drinking, drugging, and tricking. As so many lives of my generation and the ones before us have been spent. Instead, for the generations who come after us, a real life, a full, free, honest, happy one, a life in the sun, not the shadows.
Like the man said, We are the ones we've been waiting for. That will be the new President's greatest contribution to this nation, I think: empowering individuals and communities to take charge of their lives and make changes for the better. He always talks about what we will do, not what he will do. For that alone, he will go down in history as one of our greatest presidents, I have no doubt. Obama's inauguration will the moment when the sun comes out again after a long, dark winter. Then it will be our time to bloom and grow as a community, as a nation, as one people. And how I long to see the light of that day.
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