Words versus Actions

That President Obama has announced he is personally in favor of marriage equality means far less to me than the actual, concrete actions he has taken to alleviate discrimination against LGBT Americans: ending DADT, extending domestic partner rights to federal employees, refusing to defend DOMA.

But far too many of this administration's actions are sickeningly cowardly - and cowardly in a way that harms the nation far more than the president's personal support of gay marriage helps it.

George Zornick at The Nation:

WHO’S AFRAID OF REGULATION? In April, Senator James Inhofe released an old tape of EPA administrator Al Armendariz describing how the Romans once invaded villages and crucified people at random to make an example of them. “That town was really easy to manage for the next few years,” he quipped. Right-wing pundits and industry allies had a field day, suggesting that Armendariz was calling to “crucify” oil companies and selectively quoting him without further context. “Find people who are not compliant with the law,” Armendariz had continued, “and you hit them as hard as you can and you make examples out of them, and there is a deterrent effect there.” This is the definition of how regulatory action works.

Yet almost immediately, the Obama administration threw Armendariz under the bus. Press secretary Jay Carney called his comments “inaccurate as a representation of…the way that the EPA has operated under President Obama.” On April 29, Armendariz submitted his resignation letter, which was immediately accepted.

The administration may have wanted to avoid a distraction as it heads into the election, but in failing to defend Armendariz it failed to defend the basic principles of regulation. All he was saying was that without vigorous enforcement, regulation becomes an empty gesture. But it’s the sort of mistake Democrats love to make: prematurely bowing in the face of a manufactured mini-firestorm simply to take the talking point off the table. And it is symptomatic of an administration that has been consistently afraid of its own shadow when it comes to regulation.

Yes, words have power and consequences, but more so when they reinforce rather than contradict actions.