IGF's Dale Carpenter points
to a statement
in the Washington Post by new Human Rights Campaign honcho Joe
Solmonese, who opines:
"This struggle that we're in in this country right now is not just for GLBT Americans but for all progressives," [Solmonese] said. "All of us are redirecting our energy and adapting to a considerable shift in the political landscape, not just in the GLBT world."
I agree with Dale that this takes the lid off what Solmonese sees as his prime objective: to advance the liberal-left political agenda, of which "GLBT" issues are just one aspect.
The same Post story reported:
Just weeks ago, the NGLTF [National Gay & Lesbian Task Force], while stressing that it was not treading on the HRC's lobbying turf, announced that it was forming a committee to lobby Congress for GLBT (gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender) issues.
NGLTF, from its beginnings, has been politically even further to the left than HRC. So along with Solmonese's appointment, the Task Force's new Washington effort means that in the nation's capital the dominant gay strategy will be to hunker down with the Democrats' liberal wing rather than pursuing any kind of bipartisan effort.
As I wrote in response to a letter posted in our mailbag
saying that gay groups should reflect most gay voters'
left-leaning views:
It's fine to be insular within the liberal cocoon, just don't expect any pragmatic political victories. All 11 anti-gay state ballot initiatives passed on Nov. 2, while HRC focused on defeating George W. Bush in concert with its liberal allies rather than on addressing Americans' fears about gay marriage.
Former Log Cabin Republican head Rich Tafel
on his blog offers this take:
[W]ith NGLTF on the scene HRC has to worry again about its left flank. That might explain why as a group the highly partisan HRC decided to move left, not to the middle, with its latest hire. It is all about fundraising and market share. It has nothing to do with the mission of the group, which was to make progress in the halls of Congress and the corridors of the White House for gay people. But as long as wealthy gay Democrats keep feeding this beast, we can expect more of the same.
So it's partisanship triumphant. And of course, that pretty much
sums up American political culture at the moment. New York Times
columnist
David Brooks writes of "the ever-increasing polarization of the
political class," and predicts:
At the same time, Americans will grow even more disenchanted with the political status quo. Not only will there be a general distaste for the hyperpartisan style, but people will also begin to see how partisan brawling threatens the nation's prosperity.... I wouldn't be surprised if some anti-politician emerged - of the Schwarzenegger or Perot varieties - to crash through the current alignments and bust heads.
One thing is for sure, a body politic with no center could be in
for some wild swings. Be prepared.
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