The President of the United States (POTUS) has spoken and all of the acronyms have been uttered, now what? Personally, I loved the President’s speech for a number of reasons. First, a Black man stood up before a crowd of people and talked about LGBT issues. In my small part of the world I don’t hear that very often without words like “no homo” being uttered afterward or the often “not that I’m homo or anything” or “I want y’all to know I’m not gay, I’m just saying.” It was rather impressive.

Secondly, though it was not necessary for him to mention this, but I was equally pleased to hear he invited some gay folks to the White House for the Easter Egg Hunt. They weren’t pointed out as our “homo friends” as far as I know but it was nice to hear there was an invite and a few LGBT family members were in attendance.

After the speech, a friend of mine called and quipped, “I wonder if my partner and I will be invited to something soon.” It’s a running joke we have, kind of in line with how many times we have been invited to events as the . . . ahem, token Black . . . because some folks want to appear progressive since we have a Black President. Not that everyone is like this mind you, it is something we’ve noticed lately from folks who have and are proving themselves shallow and annoyingly transparent.

Third, from my vantage point which is pretty far away, I can see the scuff marks across the floors in the seat of government. The POTUS wants to close Quatanimo Bay and the folks responsible for performing this task are dragging their feet. Health Care Reform has been reduced to more dragging of feet. Immigration Reform is more dragging of feet. You would think the folks in both the House and the Senate know they are going to live forever. That said, I expect no time lines from this group of folks who seemingly love dragging their feet.

After reading the blogs and hearing the opinions of many who saw the President’s speech tonight, the overwhelming feeling is folks either don’t expect much or they feel the POTUS was talking a good game. Perhaps it is all true. After all, President Clinton walked in talking a good game too and when he walked out we had Don’t Ask Don’t Tell (DADT) and the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). The LGBT community felt all warm and fuzzy behind him. Why not expect the same from President Obama?

In recent months, Bill Clinton has flipped on DOMA and DADT. Speaking at the fourth annual Netroots Nation convention in Pittsburgh earlier this year, Clinton was interrupted numerous times by gay activists during his speech about health care and climate change. The activists challenged the former President on DADT and he was visibly ruffled by their determination and finally answered them stating the public failed to get him support in Congress. “Now that’s the truth. That’s the truth” he said.

“They [Congress] were about to vote for the old policy by margins exceeding 80 percent in the House and exceeding 70 percent in the Senate. They gave test votes out there to send me a message that they were going to reverse any attempt I made by executive order to force them to accept gays in the military. Let me remind you that the public opinion now is more strongly in our favor than it was 16 years ago.”

Earlier this year, at an address to the Campus National Conference in Washington, D.C., Clinton said “I’m basically in support” of gay marriage when asked. “I personally support people doing what they want to do,” Clinton said. “I think it’s wrong for someone to stop someone else from doing that [gay marriage].”

When you are not running for public office you can say anything you want. However, for those currently in office, they are not willing to go quite so far. This year, only five Senators have flipped their position and they are Patrick Leahy, Christopher Dodd, Kirsten Gillibrand, Charles Schumer and Tom Harkin. Will they filp again? Who knows.

I do take offense with those who believe President Obama should act as dictator, a la George W. Bush, by using his office as bully pulpit to beat in the heads of Plastic Pelosi and Reed. No. We the people should be out there voting Pelosi and Reed out of office. Why are they still there? Some of us act as if we have no power and as such, we don’t and we won’t. In my humble opinion, some of these folks need to stop taking smiley pictures with these folks and vote them out of office because they really don’t want change.

Some would like Obama to present them with time lines on when these promises will take effect. They want to know when. My response is take note of the above. Again, these folks we voted into office love dragging their feet. He can put something out there and they will drag their feet just long enough to survive an election and then they’ll do nothing.

So, what will we have him do? I don’t think I need to address how a bill becomes law but, for the uninitiated, it will have to pass both the House and Senate, spend time in committees and if it passes, it will finally make it to the desk of the President of the United States. If you have a problem with that, let’s revisit Bill Clinton’s statement above: the public failed to get him support in Congress.

Marching on Washington on a Sunday afternoon for a walk in the park will get you nowhere. Why not buy some lobbyists and do what the big boys do. Why not march and visit every Congressman and Senator in Washington on Monday and stay through Friday and visit them some more.

When I see folks really trying to do something, I might get interested. In the meantime, I enjoyed the speech, it was pretty daring but I don’t expect much as long as the folks in the seat of government continue to drag their feet. That is the worse traffic jam I’ve ever seen.