Support for Obama From an Unlikely Source

Many of you are probably familiar with columnist Andrew Sullivan. I've linked to his work several times over the years, sometimes agreeing, other times not. He is a gay conservative writer, feeling strongly about both gay rights issues and more typical conservative matters like smaller government.

That's why I find it so interesting that he has declared Barack Obama "The Urgent, Clear Choice for Gay Voters."

In his column, Sullivan posts this excerpt from an article in The Politico:

An interesting moment came when he was asked a question about LGBT rights and delivered an answer that seemed to suit the questioner, listing the various attributes — race, gender, etc. — that shouldn't trigger discrimination, to successive cheers. When he came to saying that gays and lesbians deserve equality, though, the crowd fell silent.

So he took a different tack:

"Now I’m a Christian, and I praise Jesus every Sunday," he said, to a sudden wave of noisy applause and cheers.

"I hear people saying things that I don’t think are very Christian with respect to people who are gay and lesbian," he said, and the crowd seemed to come along with him this time.

Sullivan then followed up with his own comments:

To hear someone defend gay and lesbian dignity and equality from a Christian perspective and to do so in the context of a largely African-American crowd, is much, much more than any candidate for the presidency has ever done. It's a break through. If it were just words, it would be one thing. But he has now done this repeatedly in front of black crowds, when he didn't have to. And he has put his specific commitments in writing in an open letter.

It's time to be candid about this - because gay voters, in my judgment, could make the difference in Ohio and Texas and Vermont and Rhode Island. There are very large gay communities in Texas' cities, and Ohio has the sixth largest gay community in the country. A plea: Do not sleep-walk into that voting booth with vague good feelings about the Clintons. Walk into that booth with eyes open and see what gay people have in front of them.

Now you may have many reasons not to vote for Obama, and no gay voter should vote on one issue. But solely with respect to gay matters, there is simply no choice here. Obama's positions, candor, courage, generation and religious embrace of us are dispositive.

I haven't written much about the presidential campaign because, quite frankly, everyone and his dog seems to be covering it and there isn't a whole lot I can ad. I will cop to this however; I was wrong about Obama.

When I did live blogging during the LOGO debate last summer, I dismissed Obama as something of a lightweight who wasn't yet ready for prime time. That is clearly not the case, and he has earned my vote for president for bringing some hope of change, both to GLBT issues and the overall political direction of the United States.

I don't think Obama, or anyone else for that matter, could possibly live up to the expectations that his supporters have, but he can come short of that and still be the best thing that has happened to this nation in many years. I think that can happen. I believe that Hillary Clinton could be a competent president if she wouldn't fill the White House with ALL that baggage. I'm sure John McCain is praying that she gets the nomination because Hillary is probably the only candidate that can mobilize the right-wing vote enough to make a difference--against her.

I believe the GLBT community and the nation needs the next generation to assume the mantle of leadership. and Obama is the only viable representative of that group in the presidential race. He's got my vote, it appears he's got Andrew Sullivan's, and I feel he is worth your consideration of your vote also.