I read this morning in the Chicago Tribune that President Obama is going to extend health care and miscellaneous federal benefits to same-sex partners of federal employees. This is a positive step forward for Obama's delivery of his campaign promises to the LGBT community. I applaud him on the timing of this memorandum because it is obviously his apology for the nasty brief released last week by his Justice Department. If more of his cabinet should screw up maybe in less than a year or so he will feel contrite enough to legalize gay marriage by executive order (readers: is that legally possible?) because despite quietly declaring June "Gay Pride Month" this memorandum is his first act towards securing gay rights. This brings me to my question: Did Obama sign this memorandum because of genuine feelings for the gay community or out of guilt?
This is a difficult question to answer firmly because of the dynamics of his presidency and of his own personal sympathies. First, Obama's luster has waned since his November inauguration. For example, his monolithic government-provided healthcare reform package is highly contentious and he was booed by the AMA not too long ago. On top of this, his job approval ratings show that the amount of people who disapprove of his presidency is increasing, while the percentage of people who approve has remained stagnant. He wants to be the president everyone likes but he has to achieve Israel/Palestine peace, reform healthcare, save banks and main street, clean up the auto industry mess, close Guantanamo Bay and try to uphold a modicum of harmony among the Democrats and the GOP.
One the one hand, despite the abundance of contentious issues he is determined to tackle, he ran the risk of being denounced by conservatives and took a moment to think of the LGBT community. On the other hand, to help push down his rising disapproval rating he decided that a few federal benefits here and there would be sufficient enough appease the gay community.
Did I mention that memorandums expire with the end of the president's term? That is to say gay spouses of federal employees are only guaranteed four years of healthcare and misc. benefits.
I think that the current picture of his presidency suggests that he signed this memorandum out of guilt. But, I want to believe that Obama will make good on his campaign promises, unlike his predecessor Bush who did not even acknowledge the plight of the gay community. He needs the support from the LGBT community, and it doesn't help when the LGBT pundits criticize this memorandum as not doing enough for gay Americans. I just hope it isn't another department's screw-up that makes Obama suddenly concerned about the state of LGBT rights.
Do you think Obama deserves our praise and thanks?
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