Rather than moving boldly forward with his party's big majority in Congress, Obama set out from the beginning, on almost every issue, to bring Republicans aboard, seemingly at all costs. It was a fool's errand since the Republican Party has long defined itself as the party of "no way." From civil liberties and economic policy, to the war in Afghanistan and healthcare, Obama pandered to conservatives in his first year but has nothing to show for it except headaches for himself and his party.

Simply by virtue of being a Democrat, he has energized the right, which has allowed a fringe movement punctuated by paranoid, racist extremists to speak for it and often for the entire Republican Party. And yet, rather than use this to fire up his own base, Obama only alienated some of his core constituencies, pushing them away as he pursued people who in turn pushed him way.

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In the same week, I wrote an article for the New York gay publication LGNY reporting that the HIV-positive gay writer Andrew Sullivan, a man who has a great deal of influence on gay and AIDS issues, was himself advertising for multiple-partner unprotected sex. After first refusing press calls on the issue Sullivan eventually confirmed on his Web site that he did advertise for unprotected sex. He made it appear that he was looking for a date or a boyfriend on a site where HIV-positive guys meet. But make no mistake: While there are hundreds of sites specifically for HIV-positive guys to find each other for the purpose of dating, the site Sullivan advertised on is a place where both HIV-positive and HIV-negative men advertise specifically and solely for unprotected multiple-partner sex.

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