Disenfranchising America-- What Is Obama Going To Do About It? BONUS: The Gay Agenda Revealed

It's not exactly news-- at least not to anyone who reads DWT-- but Friday, President Obama accused the Republicans of undermining democracy by pushing disenfranchisement legislation in several states where they have managed to win control. He came right out and accused them of reacting to a fake problem with a blatantly political tactic. That's pretty heavy stuff coming from a POTUS. And, at least in my book, that makes him obligated to do something about it. If he wants to acknowledge that the GOP is "trying to rig the elections by making it harder for older people, women, minorities and the impoverished to cast ballots," it's his constitutional duty to put a stop to it. "The real voter fraud," he said in a speech to Al Sharpton’s National Action Network in NYC, "is people who try to deny our rights by making bogus arguments about voter fraud.“ Peter Baker covered the speech for the NY Times

“The right to vote is threatened today in a way that it has not been since the Voting Rights Act became law nearly five decades ago,” Mr. Obama said in a hotel ballroom filled with cheering supporters, most of them African-American. “Across the country, Republicans have led efforts to pass laws making it harder, not easier, for people to vote.”

Speaking a day after a conference in Texas commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act, Mr. Obama linked the issue to the movement that helped pave the way for him to become the nation’s first black president.

“America did not stand up and did not march and did not sacrifice to gain the right to vote for themselves and for others only to see it denied to their kids and their grandchildren,” he said.

Republicans in some swing states have advanced new laws that go beyond the voter identification requirements of recent years. Among other things, state lawmakers are pushing measures to limit the time polls are open and to cut back early voting, particularly weekend balloting that makes it easier for lower-income voters to participate. Other measures would eliminate same-day registration, make it more difficult to cast provisional ballots or curb the mailing of absentee ballots.

Over the last 15 months, at least nine states have enacted voting changes making it harder to cast ballots. A federal judge last month upheld laws in Arizona and Kansas requiring proof of citizenship, like a birth certificate or a passport, leading other states to explore following suit.

Sponsors of such laws have said they are trying to prevent voter fraud and argue that Democrats overstate the impact of common-sense measures in a crass and transparent effort to rile up their most fervent political supporters.

…Mr. Obama said nothing about a compromise idea presented to him in Texas this week by Andrew Young, the civil rights leader and former United Nations ambassador. Mr. Young proposed bridging the divide over ballot security by putting photographs on Social Security cards, which are issued to all citizens.

Former President Bill Clinton embraced the idea, but the White House did not. “We haven’t had a chance to review it,” said Jay Carney, the president’s press secretary.

The focus on voting rights came in the same week when Mr. Obama and other Democrats highlighted efforts to combat pay inequality for women, another critical constituency in the fall campaign. The president continues to promote an increase in the minimum wage, an issue popular with core Democratic voters, as well as some Republicans.

Ironically-- because it really was never a top priority for Obama or his circle-- the one group that has made the most headway during his term and a half is the LGBT community. But many bigoted Republicans are not accepting those advances either. Huckabee is hoping to use his anti-gay fanaticism as a tool to win the Republican nomination for president. And many of the severely elderly in GOP power positions still have attitudes about gay people that are more relevant to the 1950s than to this century. In fact-- since it's a weekend-- I thought I'd clue everyone in to the LGBT community's plan of how the combat Republican bigotry against marriage equality. Brace yourself: