presidency is for the birds

I'm tired of being asked which I like better, Obama or Clinton. I was in Galveston, TX the first weekend in March, enjoying my lettuce wraps from Chili's when, through the glass window into the bar area, I could see Obama and Clinton taking turns salivating on Alabama church congregations during what is supposed to be a time of worship and reflection on Bloody Sunday... there were so many stories about grandmothers and history and home cooking that I swore they were having a documentary about mothers and what they've taught us - rather it was pandering.

My mother asked me what I was looking at and I told her "Clinton". She turned, a bit excitedly, and said "Bill?" "No, the only Clinton in the news now - Hillary," I replied. Of course my mother started the whole woman deconstructing woman argument (i.e. "I can't respect her after she stayed with him when all the news of his affairs got out" or "She's so cold."). And of course her stance on Obama was "he seems good - I just don't know how much he knows about foreign policy, etc..."

She then told me what most average Democrats are thinking - that she would vote for Bill if he ran again. She assumed I would too but I just thought of how he screwed us (queers) years ago:

Back on Martin Luther King Day in 1991, about 300 politically active gay men and women piled into Marty Rouse's loft on Warren Street in Tribeca to meet then-Governor Bill Clinton.

Eager to tap into the community's powerful fund-raising potential, Mr. Clinton pledged to lift a ban preventing gays from serving in the military. The assembled crowd applauded and left energized by all of Mr. Clinton's inclusive rhetoric.

Then, in 1994, in the face of enormous political pressure, Mr. Clinton compromised and passed the much-maligned ban on openly gay soldiers.

Some activists still aren't over it.

"How could you not be disheartened by that?" said Mr. Rouse, who is currently a field director for the Human Rights Campaign, and who is not supporting any candidate this year.

And in some ways, Hillary's allusions to the wonderful Clinton era before may hold true again - she has been courting the Human Rights Campaign (who shared a cute little laugh with Hillary recently because they and she have the same initials - ahhw!) and reminding others that she supported HIV funding because, you know, we are defined by our diseases all while continuing to support "don't ask, don't tell".

Worse, while marriage for same sex couples was the hot topic of the last election, this time it will be DADT. Well, as a young woman who saw more information tables for military mess than for ivy league colleges in my working class high school, I say don't let gays be in the military - they've already screwed other minorities into military slavery. But, of course, DADT will eventually be removed and then we can have a featured spot in PBS documentaries about military heroism and finally }}batting of the eyes{{ we'll be accepted!