Gays for Obama

Howard Wang/ -- I was recently having lunch with a buddy in the food court in the building where I work. As usually the case, since we are gay, we spent 80% of our time cruising the scene for hot men and gossiping about our gay coworkers-somehow we gays just can't get enough. However on this particular day-before-super-Tuesday, I decided to switch gears briefly and talk about politics.

My partner and I are gay conservatives. After being defeated in Florida a week earlier while helping out our man Mitt Romney, I was feeling especially disappointed with politics in general. So disappointed that I felt like picking a fight with my lunch buddy, since I knew he was a Democrat. I asked him who he was going to vote for and he told me Barrack Obama. I asked him why, he said because Obama supports gay marriage. I asked him if that was the only issue he cared about. Yes. What about the war in Iraq? I think we should get out. What about the economy? I don't know anything about it. I really don't follow politics.

OK so let me get this straight. My friend, who is an intelligent contributor to society and the workplace, has basically just told me that he is voting for Barrack Obama because Barrack is pro-gay. Feeling defeated because I know that there is no way to get through to a liberal, we spent the last 5 minutes of our lunch in silence. Inside however I was bubbling like a volcano. I was sick and tired of hearing about my gay friends voting for Barrack based on one single issue. That's like picking a car based on the color. To me, the gay issue should be the last thing you think about with everything else that is going on. To many gays, though, being gay IS the world. I believe that this is the single and biggest mindset hurdle that plagues gay people. It is the mindset from which liberalism itself is spawned. We've become so obsessed with the word "tolerance" and our struggles to achieve it that we have forgotten about our inherent God-given liberties. Our determination to fight anyone who gets in our way has distracted us from American history and the real struggles of our founders. We have lost sight of the fact that the only reason we are able to worry about tolerance for gays is because our basic needs are satisfied. After all, everyone in the world lives just as we do, in a nice air conditioned condo within walking distance to the dance club. After all, everyone should drive an Audi or BMW, if only everyone had good taste. Everyone should drink apple martinis, because they are SO fabulous. And most importantly everyone should vote for Barrack Obama.

This is the kind of superficial vote that Barrack Obama needs and, at the moment, has in the bag. I think it is shameful and irresponsible. Even though I believe everyone who supports Barack Obama is an ignorant cool-aid drinking fool, I have more respect for those Obama supporters who choose him based on a number of issues and not just one (although I'm convinced that Obama supporters blindly choose him based solely on his gift of public speaking). That goes for any candidate, Democrat or Republican. If you happen to support a candidate based on one issue, then for God's sake don't admit it! Or even better don't vote-leave that to people with common sense.

The truth is, however, that many voters are single-issue voters. Whether it's voting for a candidate because he's a war veteran, because he's a Baptist, or because the candidate is a woman or black, almost all voters hold one issue above the others. As a result all the candidates spend months testing the waters before honing in on the one issue they think will attract the most voters. Often times during primaries a candidate will focus on different issues depending on the state in which they are campaigning, and by the end they will have nurtured a list of issues and their positions. Mitt Romney continually reminded people of his business experience and therefore adopted economics as his main platform. John McCain made sure people knew about his first-hand experience in combat and as a POW, therefore targeting the Iraq war as his platform. Hillary touted her experience as first lady and her indefatigable push for universal healthcare.

And what about pro-gay Barack Obama? Is he even pro-gay at all? The three prevailing platforms in of the Obama camp are 1) the opposition to the war in Iraq, 2) universal healthcare and 3) hope. Two out of three of these Obama seems ambivalent about. On the Iraq war, he vehemently condemns Bush for going into Iraq but meanwhile states that he would send troops in to attack Al Qaeda. On universal healthcare, Obama criticizes Hillary for her mandatory healthcare program but provides no practical alternative. So that leaves us with one platform, which is hope. As evidenced, he has narrowed it down to "hope" itself. The word sells and Obama knows it. After every speech I can't help but to picture him saying to himself "I can't believe they fell for that…again" as he walks off stage.

Obama's message of hope is dangerous. It is straight out of the mouths of Che Guevara and Hugo Chavez. Historically when a candidate has a similar message of hope and change, the terms hope and change are used as vehicles to deliver a larger topic specific to a candidate's agenda. One example is Mitt Romney's agenda to change Washington by streamlining government, something he has done successfully in the private sector. Obama's message stops short. As a result he has ingeniously deceived people into believing that he is a blank slate. For some, it is a hope that the war will be over soon, or hope that everyone will find their dream-job, or even hope of the first African American president. In the case of my friend, it is hope that gay marriage will be legalized.

We as a nation should be cautious of a candidate who is able to attract single issue voters even without having to talk about a single issue. As a gay man I know the temptation to vote on just the gay agenda. However there comes a time when we must be responsible and put the well-being of the nation above personal interests.

Obama's cult following is unnatural and just a bit sinister. As always, I try hard to understand the political views of my friends. Having been on both sides, the left and the right, I am convinced that it is only a matter of time before they wake up, as I did.