You're right: On the issue of LGBT equality, Obama isn't any different from the rest of the Dem candidates, other than Kucinich and Gravel -- but that's no excuse; in fact, it's a cop-out any Obama supporter should be embarrassed to resort to. Frankly, I'm sick to death of hearing that argument; every time someone criticizes Obama, the chorus of "But they all do it!" and "Hillary is worse!" is deafening. Almost no one around here can manage to keep the topic on Obama; people seem compelled to give him a free pass by way of comparison. A candidate should be able to stand up against scrutiny and criticism by virtue of his own words, actions, and record; to claim he's no worse than anyone else doesn't make him a good choice -- it only makes him one of a lesser-of-all-the-evils choice. That's hardly a ringing endorsement of his virtues. And it says a lot (none of it good) that Obama's supporters themselves don't (or can't) hold him to a higher standard than that.

As for being "shocked by him more than anyone else," I'm not -- after all, he's just another politican -- until it comes to the issue of equality for LGBT Americans. Call it some sort of reverse racism if you like, but the bottom line is that yes, I do expect a black man, especially one from my post-boomer generation (Obama and I are almost exactly the same age) not to be so blind to his own hypocrisy -- and yes, homophobia. Obama has made the point that at one time, his own parents' marriage was "probably" not legal in several states, yet he seems absolutely incapable of understanding that his refusal to support marriage equality for gay and lesbian Americans is grounded in the same illogical, superstitious, archaic corruption of Christianity that prevented African-Americans from marrying Caucasians (not to mention from marrying one another at one time).

That same blindness was no more obvious than during the McClurkin fiasco: Aside from the sad fact (which I believe even the majority of Obama supporters admit now) that Obama deliberately threw us not-so-important queers aside in favor of the homophobic, Southern, black, devout, church-going vote, he stubbornly refused to pull McClurkin from the line-up... just months after demanding that CBS and MSNBC fire Don Imus for a single racist remark.

This is typical of Obama's double standard; how this kind of the-blacks-beat-the-gays hypocrisy doesn't turn everyone's stomach -- and how people fail (or refuse) to see how empty and meaningless are Obama's promises to unite all Americans, and be the President of all Americans -- is beyond me.

Finally, you write: "I do it because I like the music. They arent running for office or making any laws so how exactly is me supporting an artist who doesnt share my views on something like the war 'working against me?'"

Good heavens, where do you think right-wing celebrities get the money to make campaign contributions to right-wing candidates -- and causes? They earn it, just like you and I do -- and if you would stop buying their music, and stop buying tickets to their movies, and stop patronizing sponsors of their television programs, you will have withheld another ten or twenty or fifty bucks from their coffers. That may not seem like much of a difference to you, but it's just like doing your part for the environment (switching light bulbs, not littering, driving less, etc., etc.): If we all did it, we would "starve the beast."

It's the simplest, easiest, most painless, and most immediate form of direct action there is: You don't give money to people who give their money to the enemy. I don't know what's so hard to understand about that.