Op-Ed: Is Obama willing to fight AIDS?

Yale UAEM member Gregg Gonsalves publishes an op-ed in the Washington Post.

Is Obama willing to fight AIDS?

By Gregg Gonsalves
Friday, January 14, 2011; A19

Since the November elections and after his compromise over the
extension of the Bush-era tax cuts, some Democrats have suggested that
President Obama doesn't have the guts to go mano a mano with the
Republicans. Others have intimated that if Obama can't stand up for
what they see as traditional Democratic values, perhaps the party
needs to find another champion in 2012.

As a loyal Democrat, I find that remarkable. As an AIDS activist, I
find the proposition hard to believe for a personal reason, one that
some may find surprising. I know that the president is willing to
engage in political combat: He has castigated us at every turn for
criticizing his policies on global health and HIV/AIDS.

I was part of a group of two dozen students from Harvard and Yale
universities that interrupted a rally in Bridgeport, Conn., in late
October at which the president spoke. When we called on him to honor
his campaign promises on AIDS, Obama chastised us, made hyped-up
claims about his administration's commitment to fighting the disease
and said that the Republicans would cut AIDS funding to shreds.