By Michael Crawford
Okay, this clip from last night’s Saturday Night Live is just for fun. But the barbs that fly between Tina Fey as Sarah Palin and Amy Poehler as Hillary Clinton are the kind of sharp commentary lacking from much of the traditional media’s reporting on this election cycle.
By Jake Kaskey
Throughout the course of this campaign, I’ve heard the moaning from some in our community about the LGBT community’s strong commitment to electing Barack Obama president. In bars and hangouts, and in some corners of the blogosphere, some in our community continue to show their discontent with Obama and his campaign for the Presidency.
The refrain is too often the same — he doesn’t believe in same-sex marriage, we’re selling out the goals of our community — and completely disregards the very different approaches each candidate takes toward LGBT people.
For just a glimpse of how each party values their LGBT members, you need only to look at this past week’s Democratic National Convention, where most-every high-profile speaker specifically highlighted equality for LGBT people:
By David Mixner
Cross-posted at www.DavidMixner.com
Last night I wept as I watched the Democratic Party nominate Barack Obama for President of the Alan_convention United States. All those trials and tribulations of the 1960’s in the struggle for freedom seem to have new meaning and new purpose. As Democrats we should be bursting with pride, as Americans we should celebrate our progress and as human beings we should all stand a little taller.
-Senator Clinton certainly wowed the Convention on Tuesday night and proved that she is committed to the Democratic Party and its principles. In a powerfully delivered speech she stuck to her journey while making a powerful case for supporting Barack Obama. Her supporters must be extremely proud and the party is very grateful. I believe her best line of the evening was:
Most of all, I ran to stand up for all those who have been invisible to their government for eight long years. Those are the reasons I ran for president, and those are the reasons I support Barack Obama for president. I want you to ask yourselves: Were you in this campaign just for me? Or were you in it for that young Marine and others like him? Were you in it for that mom struggling with cancer while raising her kids? Were you in it for that boy and his mom surviving on the minimum wage? Were you in it for all the people in this country who feel invisible?
Barack Obama officially became the Democratic nominee for President tonight after Hillary Clinton interrupted a roll call vote to lead a motion nominate him by acclamation. Obama has officially become the first African-American presidential nominee of a major party in U.S. history.
By Michael Crawford
Sen. Hillary Clinton delivered a powerful speech and a ringing endorsement of Sen. Barack Obama last night at the Democratic Convention. Her speech will go a long way towards unifying the Democratic Party and focusing our sights on a crucial goal: electing Barack Obama as our next president.
Hillary Rodham Clinton summoned the millions of voters who supported her in the primaries to send Barack Obama to the White House Tuesday night, and drew thunderous applause at the Democratic National Convention when she declared her one-time rival is “my candidate and he must be our president.”
“We don’t have a moment to lose or a vote to spare,” said the former first lady, writing the final chapter in a quest for the White House every bit as pioneering as Obama’s own.
The packed convention floor became a sea of white “Hillary” signs as the New York senator _ Obama’s fiercest rival across 56 primaries and caucuses _ strode to the podium for her prime-time speech. The signs were soon replaced others that read simply, “Unity.”
Here is a short video of reactions by women in Denver to Sen. Clinton’s speech:
By Cathy Renna
I am sure you remember that old cigarette ad slogan, “I’d rather fight than switch.” Well, this reverse version should be the motto of all of us who supported Hillary Clinton. We all need to get behind Barack Obama and make sure that we win back the White House – and our country – this November.
It will simply not happen without a full faith effort on everyone’s part, no matter who you supported in the primaries. Unity is no buzzword this year, it is the only way we will have any hope to see the change we do desperately need.
By Michael Crawford
The Obama campaign recently announced that former supporters of the Clinton presidential are joining the Obama campaign’s LGBT steering and policy committee. Rep. Tammy Baldwin D-WI, former head of the Clinton campaign’s LGBT committee, was invited to join the Obama committee as co-chair alongside sitting chair Tobias Wolff, a law professor at the University of Pennsylvania.
From the Washington Blade:
Baldwin told the Blade that she was interested in joining Obama’s committee because “the contrast is stark” between Obama and Republican presidential hopeful John McCain on gay issues.
“It matters to LGBT people in America who wins the next election,” she said.
Baldwin said she feels “a special role” in communicating the difference between Obama and McCain to the gay voters — and highlighting this contrast will be a primary goal of Obama’s committee.
The Obama LGBT steering and policy committee currently has about 100 community leaders and other activists with strong backgrounds in LGBT civil rights and grassroots organizing.
Other Clinton supporters joining the committee include: