Obama thinks he is a good talker, but he is often undisciplined when he speaks. He needs to understand that as President, his words will be scrutinized and will have impact whether he intends it or not. In this regard, President Bush is an excellent model; Obama should take a lesson from his example. Bush never gets sloppy when he is speaking publicly.Let's go to the video tape:He chooses his words with care and precision, which is why his style sometimes seems halting. In the eight years he has been President, it is remarkable how few gaffes or verbal blunders he has committed. If Obama doesn't raise his standards, he will exceed Bush's total before he is inaugurated.
Even today, two years after Mark Foley's very public fall from grace, the former congressman can't explain why he sent lurid, sexually explicit computer messages to male teens who had worked as Capitol Hill pages.Foley was asked about his role as co-chairman of the Congressional Missing and Exploited Children's Caucus, where he advocated for the protection of kids surfing the Internet. He didn't see any hypocrisy about this at all....Foley insists he did nothing illegal and never had sexual contact with teens, just inappropriate Internet conversations. Investigations by the FBI and Florida authorities ended without criminal charges.
And while he concedes his behavior was "extraordinarily stupid," he remains somewhat unwilling to accept full public scorn.
These were 17-year-olds, just months from being men, he insists.
"The work I was doing was involving young children ... You know, you hear the term 'pedophile.' That is prepubescent," Foley said, noting a "huge difference" from lurid chats with teens on the brink of adulthood.Wow. You have to wonder what on earth Foley was thinking when he granted this interview. Trying to split hairs by counting the months between being a legal adult and a minor doesn't explain away the abuse of power of his position as a powerful elected official over young pages.
Doesn't it make you wonder, given the list of self-deluded pervs, thieves and incompetents on the Hill, that these guys have no common sense or awareness of how ridiculous they sound when they try to come in out of the scandalous cold?
Here's an example of the real cost born by individuals for their financial support of Proposition 8. From the Sacramento Bee:
Scott Eckern, the California Musical Theater official embroiled in controversy following revelations of his donation to the Proposition 8 campaign, issued a statement Tuesday expressing shock over the backlash, saying "I had no idea this would be the reaction."Revelations over the weekend that Eckern, the company's artistic director, had given $1,000 to the voter-approved ballot measure to ban same-sex marriage had drawn calls of an artistic and audience boycott Monday of the Sacramento theater company that produces the Music Circus and presents Broadway Sacramento.
He made a statement -- From his statement:
I understand that my choice of supporting Proposition 8 has been the cause of many hurt feelings maybe even betrayal. It was not my intent. I honestly had no idea that this would be the reaction. I chose to act upon my belief that the traditional definition of marriage should be preserved. I support each individual to have rights and access and I understood that in California domestic partnerships come with the same rights that come with marriage.I definitely do not support any message or treatment of others that is hateful or instills fear. This is a highly emotional issue. I have now had many conversations with friends and colleagues and I now have a better idea of what the discrimination issues are, how deeply felt these issues are and I am deeply saddened that my acting upon my religious convictions has been devastating to those I love and admire... I am deeply sorry for any harm or injury I have caused.
Basically, it's pretty much a Not good enough! moment for supporters of the theater who were against Prop 8. One example of a significant voice:
Gay and lesbian artists called Monday for an artistic and audience boycott of California Musical Theatre after learning that its artistic director donated $1,000 to a campaign that backed banning gay marriage in California....California Musical Theatre is the capital's oldest professional performing arts organization and California's largest nonprofit musical theater company. It has 32 full-time employees and its budget for 2007 was $16.5 million.
..."Hairspray" composer Marc Shaiman called Eckern Thursday to discuss his donation. "Hairspray" closed this summer's Music Circus season.
In a post on one Web site, Shaiman relayed what he told Eckern: "The idea that your donation came from a salary that for a short amount of time was drawn from profits from a show I wrote upsets me terribly and I would never allow anything I write to play there and will encourage my colleagues to consider doing the same."
Want to see another example of individual awakening to the economic cost to supporting the Yes On Proposition 8 campaign? There's an example of a Los Angeles restaurant owner's surprise at the economic backlash for supporting Prop 8 here.
Want to know how scary the economic impact is to business owners who we're already aware that LGBT consumers vote with their pocketbooks? Take a read at The Facts About Marriott and California's Proposition 8:
As many of you may know I'm a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Some might conclude given my family's membership in the Mormon Church that our company supported the recent ballot initiative to ban same sex marriage in California. This is simply untrue. Marriott International is a public company headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, and is not controlled by any one individual or family. Neither I, nor the company, contributed to the campaign to pass Proposition 8.The Bible that I love teaches me about honesty, integrity and unconditional love for all people. But beyond that, I am very careful about separating my personal faith and beliefs from how we run our business...
(Chino Blanco has a PHB diary on this Marriot statement here.)
If Prop 8 were put to a vote again in a year or two, I think the ProtectMarriage.com would have a lot of problems finding business owners and business executives who would donate to the campaign. There is a learning curve going on right now -- these businesspeople are discovering that there is a real economic cost to their businesses if they don't establish and publicize progressive policies towards LGBT people. And, their gods help their businesses if business owners and executives are perceived as being against progressive policies towards LGBT people to the point of supporting the withdrawal of fundamental civil rights of LGBT people.
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