Too Little, Too Late

Pam Spaulding calls EPIC FAIL on Obama's announcement today of same-sex benefits for federal employees.

This administration, the Congress and the DNC need to see the LGBT ATM shut down. NOW. That June 26 LGBT DNC fundraiser is toast. No one is buying a partner benefit plan that doesn't include health insurance, for god's sake. Will he announce an effort to send Congress something to act on? Uh, keep dreaming - his DOJ just wrote up a brief that uses defenses against incest and underage marriage to claim our relationships are unworthy of equal treatment under the law. They can't unring that bell.

Mr. Obama will be weighing in for the first time on one of the most delicate social and political issues of the day: whether the government must provide benefits to same-sex partners of federal employees. While he will announce a list of benefits, officials said, they are not expected to include broad health insurance coverage, which could require legislation to achieve.

...But administration officials said the timing of the announcement was intended to help contain the growing furor among gay rights groups. Several gay donors withdrew their sponsorship of a Democratic National Committee fund-raising event next week, where Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. is scheduled to speak.

Sorry WH brainiacs, the LGBT gala patient is bleeding to death because of your bludgeoning, and you haven't been left in the will. No $$$ for you.

UPDATE: It gets so much worse. This partner benefit plan is simply an administrative memo - it expires when Obama leaves office! LOLOLOL. FAIL-O-RAMA.

I'd have to agree with Pam's assessment. Not only does this seem like a completely obvious attempt to win favor back after last week's disastrous Department of Justice memo defending the Defense Of Marriage Act, but the annoucement itself seems to be of little actual import. The actual benefits apparently leave much to be desired and the whole plan comes across as ham-handed and half-assed.

Seems like another Odubya moment to me.

EPIC FAIL.