President Barack Obama spoke to NBC’s Telemundo spanish-language television network in an exclusive interview, stating, “Well, I’m disappointed… You’ve got young people in this country who, for all intents and purposes, are Americans. They want to contribute. Some of them want to serve in our military.
He continues,
You didn’t get a single Republican to at least get this piece of legislation on the floor. And that’s what this election’s about. Are you willing to move forward on critical issues like the DREAM act which I’ve supported since I was in the Senate… or are we going to play political games?”
Mr. President, as my partner said to me as we watched this interview on TV this morning, “Gays and lesbians want to serve in our military, too!” Remember your campaign promise, to be our “fierce advocate?”Where did that go?
AmericaBlog’s Joe Sudbay reported last night, the “President didn’t call wavering Senators today, but did reach the WNBA Champion Seattle Storm.” Great.
Back to the interview.
The Telemundo reporter then asks, “Anything you can do unilaterally, without Congress, to maybe help people who are stuck in this limbo?”
Obama: “It is a very difficult thing to do administratively. Because we want comprehensive reform, because we want the DREAM act, what we don’t want is to give an excuse to the opposition to say, “Obama’s trying to doing an end run around Congress.”
You know what, Mr. President? Who cares? No matter what you do, the GOP will hate and bash you, lie about you, and do everything to get you out of office. What matters now is what you actually accomplish, not what the GOP says about you. They are already saying it. Might as well do something.
The Dream act is very important. I strongly believe in it. My mother is a social worker in the Latino community. I hear terrible, terrible stories. But I also strongly believe that the 66,500 LGBT citizens serving in our armed forces deserve the same “disappointment” from our Commander-in-Chief. More so, they deserve his advocacy.
Mr. President, there is an election coming. And people already think each side is “playing politics.” Hell, our own community thinks each side is “playing politics.”
I mean, the Log Cabin Republicans and GOProud are accusing the Democrats of screwing up the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” repeal legislation by “playing politics” — now, that’s playing politics!
This exact same interview, Mr. President, with the exact same answers, could have — and should have — been given about the failure of Congress to move forward with “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” repeal.
If you allow your Department of Justice to appeal the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” federal court decision, what will you be telling us?
(You’ll have to visit Telemundo to watch the interview.)