(5 of 5)
The answer is that outrage has given way to smugness, the kind of self-satisfaction conservatives displayed after electoral successes in 1980 and 1994. Groups like the Cabinet and the Democracy Alliance suggest a new kind of moneyed progressivism, one that shows little of the class discontent that animated earlier strains of leftist thought. Is this a sign of maturation--throwing off radical excesses--or capitulation, a surrendering to the idea that efforts to reduce the power of money in our democracy have failed? Probably a little of both.
For its part, the Cabinet seems poised to prod the gay movement into being sleeker, faster, more tactical. When the remaining veterans of Stonewall march down Fifth Avenue next summer, those shimmeringly romantic, slightly foolish days of 1969 will have never seemed so distant.
$27 MILLION Conservative estimate of the amount that Cabinet members spend each year on gay causes
$6.4 MILLION Amount that a single Cabinet member gave to campaigns in 2006
3 Number of governors who have met with Cabinet members or their aides
7 Members of the Cabinet, the most powerful force in gay politics