In Defense of my Queer President
A response to the Conservative’s Criticism of the State of the Union
By: David Mosqueda
President Barak Obama has finished his final State of the Union Address, and he has proved himself to be the president I, to this point, have always wanted. He stood before a room that was divided by the two extremes of American ego, and American greed. He kept himself true to all the things he has ever said on his campaign trail.
He was met by the Conservative front-runner Donald Trump’s criticism, using words like boring, lethargic, and hard to watch. What I saw was a president defeated by the extreme pushback from anyone that just wanted their voice to be heard, and their presence to be known. He has faced extreme hardships as the previous years have left our country threatened not by forces abroad, but by our own citizens. Our lack of gun control, our lack of affordable education, and the complete support of institutions that hinder our social progress in our great nation.
The President spoke of our needing to re-evaluate our system and change our system, focusing on Campaign finance, tuition costs, and Healthcare reforms. He spoke about focusing our attention on America being the country to cure cancer. A part of me sunk to hear him focus on a condition that is very regularly maintained by modern medicine, where HIV/ AIDS remains a very stigmatized disease. No one worries about you spreading Cancer by shaking hands, or being in the same workplace. You are not deemed undesirable by lovers, and your community by simply existing with the condition.
My president tried mercilessly to please everyone in his address. He focused on the items that candidates are being met with on their trails. The president looked at republican audience members and pointed at them in the speech to signify them as the inhibitors, as the physical blockades of all progress. Tarnishing those that use fear tactics that isolate religions, and individual heritages to gain political prowess.
What makes my president queer is his want to dismantle existing institutions and reestablish them as their corrective selves. systems that work for the people as they are created by the people. I have seen institutions hard at work against the people that exist in my community, and my president understands those struggles. As a gay man, I have fought tirelessly to gain rights my predecessors could only dream of, on their AIDS ridden death beds, that a government failed to respond appropriately to. These rights include a reform of healthcare that would allow us to receive the treatments we deserve. We require a revision of a political system that allow us to voice ourselves so we do not fall prey to a government that has reverted to a pre-1980 mentality. We deserve to be human, and our many LGBT youth deserves a chance at redemption to live a full life unaltered by their current position. My president is lethargic, and hard to watch because he is wounded. Wounded by the very country he is defending every moment of his existence.
My president has fought for me. He has fought for my ability to exist as an American. The president has led many causes that, though they are not perfect they have opened the doors for many to come in and fish the job. Like my presidential candidate of choice Bernie Sanders, who much like the president understands my struggles. More so he understands the struggles of a middle class, like our current President. It was sad to hear it read that seven out of ten Americans feel the country is moving in the wrong direction. The fear tactics of the right, and more so, the tactics of Donald Trump have distracted us from the true corrections the Democrats have made to our country. The president has been criticized of all his executive orders as being a disregard for the American democratic system, but when everyone is against all of your ideas there is no way to go other than around them. We must not be dissuaded by the current media storm that has made us believe that Hilary is our go to. She has only bought financially acquired that attention, where has Bernie gained it with our respect.
The president finished his speech speaking of the America he is fighting for, it is an America that understands our system has backfired. That our systems require change as most work against us rather than for us. We are an America, like the President stated, that is “clear-eyed and big-hearted.” He stood before the room that on one side hates him with a deep passion, and another that adores him, but also feels they must distance themselves, and announced the state of our union is strong, and it is. Because we have a queer president that wants to turn our institutions on their heads and believes in us to know the right things to do.
My President may appear tired and beat, but he has much more in him, and it is exciting, finally, to be an American.
