Soundbite: Snap! Andrew Sullivan Smacks Down Obama’s Gay Rights Speech

“All I can say is: the president gave a speech he could have given at any point in the last three years…And he said it well and movingly. Like we didn’t know he could do that. But the point of electing a president who pledged to actually do things is to hold him to account, and to see if he is willing to take any risk of any kind to actually do something. I had a few prior tests of his seriousness or signs that he gets it, a few ways to judge if this speech had anything new or specific or clear. He failed every test.”

— Andrew Sullivan’s review of President Obama’s Saturday HRC speech on Gay rights, during which the president made headlines by suggesting he was ready to end the military’s ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy.

Um, SNAP. Andrew Sullivan, whose conversion to Obamaism circa 2007 was both dramatic and complete, and extended to supporting the president being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize last week, is clearly underwhelmed by the president’s record on equal rights for gays. Sullivan’s fervent support of all things Obama does not, it would seem, extend to being an ‘Obama on Gay Rights’ apologist…by a long shot.

As a matter a fact, the cry of Obama better start putting his money where his soaring rhetoric appears to be growing a tad louder of late, no doubt pushed along by the Nobel win which seemed to bring even the most understanding doubters out of the shadows. But when a converted supporter like Sullivan starts to call your speeches “highfalutin bullshit” perhaps it’s time to take heed…and action.

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