If Obama was serious about equal rights, he would actually do something, like announce that his Justice Department would be suing states that deny equal rights for GLBTs or pass discriminatory amendments. But in his usual gutless way, he is doing nothing in his power as President to actually implement the righteousness of his words.  Instead, he is just using the issue to raise campaign funds.

In “Passage of Power”, Robert Caro writes that four days after he took office, Lyndon Johnson was being advised by “wise, practical people” who said a president should not spend time on lost causes, no matter how worthy. “Well, what the hell’s the presidency for?” was  Johnson’s retort.

Too bad we don’t have a President with that spirit today.

The system is rigged; American “democracy” is an illusion; and nobody cares.

Somewhere or other I read that human rights are inalienable. Unfortunately, this wishy-washy “support” of gay marriage is typical of this President who  has shown, time and again, that he cares very little for civil liberties, civil rights, and equal justice under the law.

But the ersatz liberals are celebrating getting tossed a few more crumbs under the table and demanding that this alone should require sending Obama money and voting for him in November.

Update: From Gawker: Barack Obama’s Bullshit Gay Marriage Announcement. Exactly right:

“Equality is not a state-by-state issue. There is no reason other than ignorance and hatred that two men can get married in New York and not North Carolina. At a time when vindictive hucksters are rolling out anti-gay marriage amendments across the nation, and when conflicting state and federal laws portend an insoluble morass of divorce, custody, and estate issues, and when gay Americans are turning to the U.S. Constitution and the courts to seek an affirmation of their humanity, “it’s a state-by-state issue” is a shameful dodge.”

“A Colorado man wrongly convicted and sentenced to life in prison for the rape and murder of a woman found strangled with a dog leash was exonerated on the basis of new DNA evidence and set free on Monday after spending more than 16 years behind bars.”

But since Obama himself has become complicit in committing and covering-up all of those crimes, I am sure we won’t see them prosecuted any time soon.

Edwards was right about “two Americas,” but “two Americas” isn’t just about economic opportunity – it is also about justice. Obama has been a complete failure in restoring equal justice under the law and civil liberties in America. Complete failure.

I will give credit where it’s due though. At least the church spoke up and out about the Ryan plan. Bravo.

In the letter to the Agriculture Committee, the bishops urged lawmakers to reject “unacceptable cuts to hunger and nutrition” programs for “moral and human reasons.” They said spending cuts should instead be made to subsidy programs that “disproportionately go to large growers and agribusiness.”

Lawmakers should “protect essential programs that serve poor and hungry people over subsidies that assist large and relatively well-off agricultural enterprises,” said the letter, signed by Bishop Stephen E. Blaire.

“Cuts to nutrition programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) will hurt hungry children, poor families, vulnerable seniors and workers who cannot find employment. These cuts are unjustified and wrong.”

“They beat the soles of his feet with hoses and sticks, asking him about his Portland, Ore., mosque and its imam. Each day, the men questioning him in a United Arab Emirates prison told the 33-year-old Fikre he would be released “tomorrow,” according to an account he gave on Wednesday at a press conference in Sweden, where he has been since September.’It was very hard, because you don’t know why you are in there and the only person you speak to is either yourself, or the wall, or when you go to the restroom or when you go to the torture place,’ said Fikre, who was held for 106 days. ‘I have never been that isolated from human beings in my entire life.’”

Torturing, killing, strip-searching, sexual molestation, censorship – these are all parts life in Obama’s American police state.

So, who cares?