On Saturday October 2, President Barack Obama came to Boston’s Hynes Convention Center to rally the troops for the November 2 election in support of Democrats running across the state, especially Governor Deval Patrick. 10,000 people were expected to fill the convention center that day, yet 15,000 showed up and waited in long lines to hear what the President had to say.
While this news did make the headlines in just about every Massachusetts newspaper, what also made the headlines alongside it was the protest that broke out twice during his rally speech regarding his promise to increase AIDS funding during his term in office. Among these protestors were Harvard students from the Harvard College Global Health and AIDS Coalition, who went to this rally to send a message.
So what exactly were they protesting about? Well, Obama during his campaign promised to increase funding to the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief by $50 billion. Since taking office, he has only increased funding a fraction of that amount. And as these students see it, Obama made a promise, and broke it.
They got into the convention center early, and waited until the President took the stage before they revealed their white t-shirts and posters that read, “$50 Billion for Global AIDS” and “Keep the Promise.” And by their measure, they succeeded in getting Obama’s attention, considering that Obama had to stop his speech twice, first remarking that a problem is that Democrats love fighting with each other, and then defending himself by saying “Take a look at what the Republican leadership has to say about that, because we increased AIDS funding.” The group dismissed these comments as typical rally one-liners. Yet, they too were dismissed from the convention center by security. They continued their protest outside.
But for these Harvard students, this was not the first time they tried to get their message across to the President. A few weeks ago, Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis came to the IOP forum. Outside the building was a large group of students holding signs like those at the rally, wearing red shirts, banging on pots, and chanting. After her speech, students from the group lined up behind the microphones for the question and answer period. I was among those enlisted to ask a question regarding Obama’s AIDS promises. I was the first in line behind the microphone. But as I looked around the room, I saw many students lined up to ask the same basic questions, and so sat down in fear of being embarrassed by what was about to happen.
Indeed, my fears came true.
The first two questions asked of Secretary Solis were about Obama’s AIDS promises. In her answers, she stated that she did talk to the protestors outside about their concerns and that she would make the President aware of their concerns before the meeting of the Global Fund the following week. Two questions later, yet another AIDS question was in the process of being asked before the moderator of the event came to the podium and stopped the person saying that what they were doing was unfair. He requested that people have an opportunity to ask other questions. The crowd erupted in applause. To a certain extent, the message that they were sending was now tainted by the displeasure of the crowd.
The same happened at the Obama rally. During each protest, the rest of the crowd was cheering, “Obama” and “Four More Years.” The surprising thing is that this crowd would have been a very favorable to an increase in AIDS funding. But the protestors’ interruptions, which seemed to be an attack on Obama, did not make the crowd very happy, and thus made them very unfavorable to the cause of these well-intentioned students.
The event is long over, but the debate remains whether or not what the protestors did was appropriate. Some, like Harvard freshman Simon Thompson, say, “These guys need a lesson in civil discourse.” Others like Gustavo Resendiz, who has worked with the Harvard College Global Health and AIDS Coalition, say, “Just because he is the president does not mean that we can let him slide on this issue.”
Surely, there are many opinions for and against what this group of students did. When you break away all of the emotions, anger, and biases, what you see is that Obama has broken a campaign promise. That is a fact. However, the question that remains is whether or nor the protest was necessary. Sure, Obama did not increase AIDS funding. But at the same time he is being attacked by the right for spending way too much and causing this ballooning budget deficit. Thus, while increases in AIDS funding may be the most important issue to some, it is true that most Americans would rather work to have a more balanced federal budget.
And what about this allegation that Bush did more than Obama on the issue of AIDS research. While this statement may be true in the sense that Bush was one of ten first presidents to give money towards AIDS research, the money that he dedicated to this cause is still part of the federal budget. Therefore, from day one, the federal government under Obama was giving just as much as under Bush. Even one dollar more to the cause would mean that Obama was giving more than Bush. And as it stands, while Obama has missed the goal of a $50 billion increase, he has increased funding by hundreds of millions.
Overall, the protestors got what they wanted, which was attention from Obama and the media. But was this at a price? In other words, did they hurt their cause among Harvard students or the people at the rally by being so negative? I suppose what cannot be argued is that these students are well-intentioned people who care about this very good cause, and it is likely that they will carry on with their work into the future to increase awareness about AIDS and to fight for more funding.
Did they do the right thing? You be the judge!