However, the rumors continue, that it will not be a forceful mention. Already some of us wanting marriage equality is calling whatever he may say to be a failure.
As for myself, seeing how rumors flew around the NY vote this week, I will reserve judgement until I hear what exactly he will say.
However, if Obama's words exactly as milquetoast as some are predicting, color me not surprise.
It's not really a knock against Obama but just a hard lesson that many of us - whether we be lgbtq or not - should remember when it comes to historical figures, especially those who become president.
Eisenhower is remembered for calling the troops to enforce desegregation in Little Rock, AK after the Supreme Court decision. But he did so after Governor Orval Faubus laid down the gauntlet by disrespecting his power as president.
Kennedy is remembered for Camelot. However his record on civil rights protections for African-Americans isn't really that strong. Also, it is rumored that had he not been assassinated, he was going to distance himself from Martin Luther King, Jr.
Johnson is remembered for his steadfast pushing of civil rights legislation. However, he did try to sabotage the testimony of Fannie Lou Hamer during the 1964 Democratic convention when she spoke on how the Democratic party in her stae was violently disenfranchising African-Americans.
And even Robert F. Kennedy, who will always be remembered for what he could have accomplished as president had he not been murdered, was the same fellow who, as U.S. attorney general, allowed FBI director J. Edgar Hoover to wiretap Dr. King.
The point is this - those elected president do so with lofty rhetoric about soaring on eagles' shoulders.
When elected president, they tend to find out that they have to tone it down a bit.
That's unfortunate but it is a fact of life.
So while I await to hear what Obama says, I fully support those of us who merely seek to remind him of the hope and change he helped us believe in.
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