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March 4, 2008 11:17 AM

S.F. mayor in Texas backs Clinton, "disappointed" in Obama

This report is by Mehgan Sellers, a University of Washington student who, along with other members of professor David Domke's blogging class, is filing reports from Texas on today's key primary there.

HOUSTON-San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom told me on Saturday that Clinton has “been at [GLBT] issues a lot longer.”

Talking with the mayor for ten minutes before his appearance at the Stonewall Democrats rally for Clinton that day, he said, “I got to tell you I was very disappointed when Barack Obama said he didn’t see any difference between civil union and marriage…To me it was very hurtful particularly coming from someone in the African American community who understands separate is not equal.”

The mayor continued, “It only just reinforced my own experiences on these issues.”

Whether he was referring to the general abandonment of the Democratic Party after his controversial endorsement of same-sex marriage in San Francisco four years ago, or a direct blow towards Obama, is up to interpretation.

In 2004, during his campaign for the U.S. Senate, Obama allegedly snubbed Newsom in his home city of San Francisco. While at the actual event yesterday the mayor did not mention Obama directly, he did allude to the fact that Clinton was the only one who stood by him during this time.

Newsom went on to compare Obama to John McCain and other Republicans.

“Look [Obama’s] so much better than John McCain, so much better than most of the Republicans,” he said, “So I’m proud to embrace him as an alternative to Hillary Clinton.”

Newsom’s support for Clinton comes largely from her ability to make change. “With her it’s always been about making change, that’s why she’s been so controversial,” he said. “They say dogs don’t bark at parked cars.”

After Newsom’s trip to the Lone Star State to campaign on behalf of Clinton, it looks like cars in motion stick together.

The mayor concluded, “People don’t get upset about people who aren’t about change, they get upset about people who are about change.”

The mayor was positive about Clinton's chances of winning both Texas and Ohio today, saying "She's formidable in these two states."

"If she pulls these two states...the winds behind her and I think she's going to be unbeatable," he said. "A lot of folks are writing her obituary...[they] are being real presumptuous."

Newsom said these people need to look back in history at what happened after Iowa.

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Posted by P

8:57 PM, Mar 04, 2008

Barak Obama's minister believes, as does Louis Farrakan, that gays are sinners who should be punished for their sinful ways. Mayor Newsome is disappointed that Sen. Obama is a man of covictions? How utterly intolerant of the mayor!

Posted by shoephone

1:55 AM, Mar 05, 2008

"In 2004, during his campaign for the U.S. Senate, Obama allegedly snubbed Newsom in his home city of San Francisco."

It was more than a snub. Obama refused to have his picture taken with Newsome. Apparently, he was terrified of being considered gay-friendly.

Ah, yes. Obama: The unity candidate.

Posted by Rialb58

4:08 AM, Mar 05, 2008

Well one must considered Newsom is hardly a picture of prudence. He cheated with his former deputy chief of staff's wife who confronted him and resigned and then there's his infamous relationship with a 19 year old who he allowed to drink alcohol with, despite that she was underage. Obama, doesn't have any issues with Lesbian/Gay. In this case he rightfully doesn't care
to be cozy with someone with the lose moral judgment of Gavin Newsom ...good call Barack!

Posted by shoephone

11:05 PM, Mar 05, 2008

Except that Newsom's affair had nothing to do with why Obama refused to have his picture taken with him. The affair wasn't revealed until May of 2007. Obama's Senate campaign (and the picture refusal) took place in 2004, three years earlier.

Oops.

Facts are inconvenient things.

Posted by shoephone

11:09 PM, Mar 05, 2008

"Obama, doesn't have any issues with Lesbian/Gay."

Unfortunately, quite a few lesbians and gays have a problem with Obama after his Donnie McClurkin stunt, pandering to homophobia in South Carolina.

Posted by KS

9:36 PM, Mar 09, 2008

Mayor twosome-Newsom - That's a representative unprincipled liberal politician to solicit.

I don't think that Obama has issues with gays - just with corrupt mayors who flip the bird at the Federal Government and disallow the military. I credit Obama with distancing himself from the mayor of SF, who is more of a joke than the mayor of Seattle - IMHO.