Lady Gaga’s opening act–President Obama–has finished his speech and the media is giving its instant reaction.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYHm0RyCyfU]The Associated Press gave its usual quick coverage, highlighting his plans to end Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. The Washington Post also highlighted DADT, while also noting the conflict inside the LGBT community over tactics. Following a similar script, the New York Times also focused on DADT but noted that a lack of a timeline would likely inflame LGBT activists. The Chicago Sun Times went more general, but noted unhappiness among activists. Politico went a different direction, saying Obama “wowed” a crowd of gay rights activists.
The LGBT blogosphere was clearly not “wowed” based on the instant reaction. The gay blogger alpha males all expressed similar displeasure with the speech. Andrew Sullivan said the speech was “much worse than I expected” while Dan Savage says there was “nothing new to see here.” John Aravosis called the speech “a disappointment, but not unexpected” while Andy Towle criticized the president for not mentioning the Maine marriage battle. Joining the alpha males was Pam Spaulding, who has low expectations she said were fulfilled.
If you’re an activist or citizen looking for timelines, actions, use of the bully pulpit, ANYTHING that would indicate to the community that our President was serious about moving on the laundry list of LGBT issues any time soon, you would call it a fail.