The Logo Forum

I just got back from watching the Logo Presidential Forum at Bourbon Street. Here are my thoughts.

Best Friend - Rep. Dennis Kucinich, with former Sen. Mike Gravel not far behind. Pro rights, pro marriage. In fact, neither Rep. Kucinich nor the panelists could come up with anything that the LGBT community wanted that he wouldn't support. Unfortunately, he comes across as wanting to have Congress get in a big circle and sing Kumbaya. In other words, I'm afraid he's not electable; though, to paraphrase the candidate, he's only unelectable if you don't vote for him.

Best Performance - Sen. Clinton. I think they were a little easier on her than they were on Sens. Obama and Edwards, but she still did great. While the others were interrogated, she seemed to be in charge of a friendly chat -- you could almost imagine her pouring tea. She espoused the same "civil unions yes, marriage no" position as Sens. Obama and Edwards, but sounded a lot better.

Best Question - The very first one to Sen. Obama, grilling him on marriage vs. unions and separate but equal. I e-mailed in a similar question (check earlier posts for my similar analysis of the gay marriage issue). I just wish he had posed it so bluntly to everyone.

Where were you? -- Sens. Dodd and Biden. When you're a "second tier" candidate, you don't snub a relatively wealthy constituency with an 80% voter turn-out. They just confirmed the idea that they're not serious candidates.
An honorable mention goes to all the Republican candidates, who must have figured they'd lose more votes by showing up than they could hope to gain. Or they felt it was too dangerous to step into the crosshairs of Melissa Etheridge's intense scrutiny.

Crashed and Burned -- Gov. Richardson. In theory, I like this guy and his resume. But he really blew it on the gay marriage question. Not by saying that it wasn't realistic, or that the country wasn't there yet. I can deal with that answer -- in some ways that's better than Sen. Edwards, who isn't there himself. But at least Sen. Edwards is honest about it -- when Melissa asked Gov. Richardson if he would sign legislation allowing gay marriage, he showed (by declining to say he would do so) he's not there yet either. He just doesn't want to admit it.

Best Word: Sen. Obama, the self proclaimed "Hope-monger".

Moment I Almost Cried: When Melissa talked about Inauguration Week 1993. I wasn't out then, but I know how she felt, because I felt the same way. I was a College Democrat, and a Young Democrat, and I got to attend the Inauguration and the Youth Ball. We listened to President Clinton's speech in the cold January weather, kept warm by the belief that we had just changed the world. I still have my mock National HealthCare card (anyone else remember "Health Care That's Always There") and my "Vote 4 a Change" T-shirt.
Within 2 years, healthcare reform been halted by a Democratic Congress and President, Don't Ask, Don't Tell became the law of the land, and Newt Gingrich took the Speaker's gavel. All that was left was triangulation and an economic engine that kept the country going right on the same homophobic track.
I thinks that's my big question about Hillary. Can we trust her to fulfill the promises she and Bill made the first time? Or will she, like her husband, falter under the pressures of alleged "realism" and the desire to win again in 2012?

To be continued...