It’s time for me to start wrapping my head around the idea that Barack Obama may not make it. I’m not saying he will definitely lose his bid for reelection, merely that things are looking a little bleak. His poll numbers are down, and more disturbingly, are on a downward trend. The economic numbers are anemic at best, and even if we all woke up tomorrow with a fully restored economy, public approval ratings take awhile to catch up with reality. At the moment, the future of our nation appears to hinge on how crazy the Republican nominee will be, and how much of this insanity the voters will be tolerant of, (or enthusiastic about,) on election day.
Awesome.
With the outcome of the next election riding on the good sense and civic understanding of the American people, I am very, very worried. As a gay man, I am positively terrified. Where the Republican party used to rely on Adam Smith and William F. Buckley for its ideology, today’s Conservative is a pungent mix of equal parts Ayn Rand, Pat Robertson, and P.T Barnum. As it turns out, the circus is way more effective.
So, it’s time to start facing the realities of a Post-Obama America. Just in case. I know. My teeth are clenched too, but it’s time we faced the possibility.
The LGBT community has enjoyed a very hospitable few years. I, for one, have gotten a little spoiled. Obama likes us, or is at least willing to pander to us, and as a result we have seen an unprecedented series of victories.
While this could entice one into thinking that the political landscape is relatively stable for LGBT people in the modern era, I’m not overwhelmed by the situation. In the latest ABC News/Washington Post Poll, 51% of respondents voiced support for gay marriage. While that is better than it has been in the past, that number still blows. If I were in a room with ten people, and five of them wanted to deny me my civil rights, I would want to leave that room. And you can bet at least a few of them would like to see me in jail, or at least publicly shamed and driven out of polite society forever for being gay. We still live in a country where most states have no protections of any kind for LGBT people.
Don’t believe me? Just go look at the Wikipedia entry for LGBT rights in the United States. Or take the Benjamin Phillips Challenge: Try reading the comments section of any article anywhere when the story regards gay rights, and see if you don’t get sick to your stomach by the end of the first page. Those anonymous postings are, in my opinion, the real views of the people in this country.
Despite who may beat Obama, if he is to be beaten, things are going to start getting worse. No longer will we have the limited protection of our president. No matter if it’s President Rick “George W. Bush with less intellectual scruples†Perry, or President Mitt “Let me be president and I’ll say whatever you want me to†Romney, we will have a chief executive who will sign any crazy-ass, bigoted, wildly anti-gay piece of legislation Congress can manage to slide across his desk. And may the deity of your choice help us if Michele Bachmann gets to sit in the big chair. Perry and Romney are largely just pandering, power-hungry ego maniacs for whom LGBT people are little more than a easy scapegoat. Michele Bachmann really hates us. Who knows what horrors await us should she get her hands on any real amount of executive power. I hate to speculate, as my mind goes to terrible places thinking of it. I can assure you however, the sheer volume of anti-gay constitutional amendments she would support would crush even the heartiest of desks.
I ask you to envision this future as you watch the Republican Presidential Candidates debate over the next few months. Try to hold back the vomit, and listen to their responses when the inevitable questions regarding gay rights come up. Unless Obama can pull it together, this is our future.
Discouraging? You bet. Not a fan? Then do everything in your power to see that Obama gets reelected. He isn’t perfect, but he’s far better than these yahoos.
