Politics and the search for the Good Straight Father Figure

I was reading the Sptember 9-15 2005 edition of the Philadelphia Gay News and I came across Mark Segal's "Mark My Words" column (which only appears in the print version; I couldn't find it on their website), which was about next year's US sentorial race in Pennsylvania. So far Bob Casey looks like the head candidate for the Democratic nomination to run up against Rick Santorum, and with good poll numbers right now. Segal points out that just because you peak in the poll numbers a year before the election doesn't mean that they'll stay the same when the proper election comes around--when Casey was running for governor in 2002 he was peaking a year before in that election as well; of course he wound up losing to Ed Rendell. Segal also points out that Casey has not made any real commitment to the gay community and that lack of commitment will eventually be his undoing, since Santorum will be energizing his conservative and homo-hating Christain supremicst bases. Casey needs to stir up the enthusiasm of the gay vote in Pennsylvania by providing substance when he addresses gay issues, and the sooner the better. Otherwise it'll just end up a rerun of the John Kerry presdential campaign, who waited until the last moment to show his support for the gay community, and it was used against him by Karl Rove and the Republicans.

Ever since Bill Clinton was elected as president in the early 90s, the gay community has been looking to straight policitians to help fight for the community, sort of like a father (or mother) figure would. We get involved in politics to search for that Good Straight Father Figure who will protect us and treat us with kindness and respect. We tend to build to them up to that ideal. But we almost always end up being disappointed and betrayed when they let us down or turn against us for their own personal gain and/or political survival. That Good Straight Father Figure either turns out to be a bumbling doofus (which Democrats usually end up being) or a abusive shit (which most Republicans wind up as). Us gay people have to realize that the Good Straight Father polictian is just a myth in the end, that Daddy isn't going to be around to tie our shoelaces, kiss our bruises, and protect us from the bullies. We have to be our own Good Father Figures.