Obama Says, "Stay. Wait."

Change we can believe in? Here it comes. Wait. Don't be so impatient. Wait. Keep waiting....

On Friday the Obama administration championed the Defense of Marriage Act, a law the president said he would do his utmost to try and repeal if elected. He was elected in large part by the votes of dedicated democratic lesbian and gay when he promised that he would uphold the Constitution. But now it seems he's moving away from that position, equal rights for everyone, because it doesn't fit those who are most afraid of equal rights for everyone. Maybe he meant equal rights for everyone only in theory and not in practice. Or maybe just on the campaign trail and not in the Oval Office.

"The president made very explicit and emphatic campaign promises that he opposes DOMA and would provide leadership calling on Congress to repeal it," said Jennifer Pizer, marriage project director for Lambda Legal. "This brief is not consistent with that promise."

He also pledged to gay activists that he would repeal the military's "don't ask, don't tell'' policy, which allows gays to serve in the armed forces if they don't tell. ("OMG! You are gay too! What the H-E-double hockey sticks is going on around here?! Drop em' and give me fifty private!") But Obama as politician is delaying taking any action that will bring change We can believe in.

Supporting gay marriage is not the only topic the president seems to have gone amnesiac on. Remember, (I hope you do) how he promised to replace curious George's practice of using military commissions to prosecute 'suspected' terrorists? Now, by golly he supports them in "some cases" by giving detainees a better choice of lawyers and by limiting hearsay evidence. Did I say hearsay? I did hear the president say that he would close Gitmo, stop using military commissions to prosecute suspected terrorists and that the gay community would have a friend in the White House. Don't even get me started on Afganastan. A basic tenet of excellent leadership is, do what you say you will do. If you can't then tell us why. Be honest. Not saying or doing anything is not honesty.

It's depressing that our president, whom I proudly voted for, is sounding and acting a lot like many of his predeccessors. Change we can believe in? Keep waiting. How about, "status quo as it goes"?