Reply #27: People kid around like this. That doesn't make them homophobic. [View All]

[Bucky]

HIV is a horrible reality. I've lost friends to it. I've worked with AIDS sufferers professionally. Thre's a lot of pain and fear and, as Biden points out, denial associated with this modern plague. It's only natural to offer a little levity, to laugh so we don't despair, about this problem. I don't think Obama's little joke hurt anyone or anything. I don't think it promoted ignorance or denial or encouraged anybody to pretend HIV isn't a problem.

I suppose we could do some Fristian TV professional diagnosis of Obama's mentality that would encourage that joke. From there we could overanalyze and justify saying something profoundly Freudian about his inner demons and insecurities. But the reality is that the audience giggled at the tension Biden's directness brought into the room and Obama was playing off the audience. Politicians do that, they connect with people and play off audiences.

This is a tempest in a teapot. I applaud Biden confronting the topic head on. I don't psychoanalyze him clarifying he got tested because he'd had a blood transfusion any more than I psychoanalyze Obama. It's an important topic we should hope all politicians take seriously. Let's not trivialize it.