Obama's coldness toward gays, lesbians, bisexual and transgender people upon taking office could have predicted that he wouldn't get tough on the banks or show any passion for a public option. Gays were the canaries in the coal mine back on Day One of this administration. That was the day when Rick Warren gave the invocation at the inauguration. It signaled how easily this president would insult and sideline a loyal constituency in return for the false promise of bringing in people who will never support him.
And in my view, not merely coldness, but calculating coldness, coldness designed to demonstrate to Republicans who never intended to do anything but oppose the new president that he was willing to bend over backwards to listen to and include them in policy-making decisions.
You can tell a great deal about a person's character by observing how he or she treats his/her friends.
