HomoQuotable - Steve Hildebrand

"The Democratic strategy right now is to run from the president, run from important proposals that help this country. If we’re not going to do something about health care, if we’re not going to do something about climate change, if we’re not going to do something about the economy, about the deficit, about the war, Washington is going to get punished. The Democrats might get punished more because they’re in power, but Washington in general is going to get punished. And you’ve seen it in Republican primaries across the country. You’ve seen it in Democratic primaries across the country. And you’re going to see it with a lot of just pure incumbents from both parties in November. They’re getting punished because they’re not dealing with the issues. They’re not dealing with the real problems that we face as a country. And they should be punished. Stand up and lead or get out of the way." - Barack Obama's 2008 deputy campaign manager Steve Hildebrand, telling ABC News that Democrats who don't stand by the president deserve to be "punished."

HomoQuotable - Steve Hildebrand

"I’m very perplexed on the administration’s continued defense of DOMA in the courts. The Justice Department is not required to defend laws passed by Congress -- they have a history of doing it but it’s not a requirement. Their ultimate duty is to defend the Constitution of the United States and if Congress passes a law that is discriminatory and doesn’t pass muster of constitutionality, the Justice Department in my opinion should not defend those laws. In fact, they should find ways to make sure that those laws are stricken down by the courts.

"I’d like to see the president and Attorney General Holder announce that they will no longer defend the Defense of Marriage Act and to agree with the judge’s findings in the Massachusetts’ court case.

"The other thing I would say related to DOMA is that holding out hope that Congress will repeal DOMA is a crazy idea – I don’t foresee in my lifetime Congress having the guts to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act. We can’t even get workplace protections passed – how do we expect them to take on religious institutions in this country who hold marriage [as an institution] only allowed between a man and a woman." - Former Obama deputy campaign manager Steve Hildebrand, speaking to the Advocate's Kerry Eleveld. During yesterday LGBT precon here at Netroots Nation, we were told to add three words after introducing ourselves. Hildebrand's three words: "Don't hate Obama."

HomoQuotable - Steve Hildebrand

"I would encourage gays and straights alike to put pressure on President Obama, on his administration, to call for action -- immediate action on the laundry list of items that the gay community deserves for true equality in this country.

"What I don't like is the suggestion by a lot of people that this guy has lied to us and that he isn't fulfilling his campaign promises, when he's only been in office for five months. He can't change the world overnight and -- I'm doing my best to say this without providing excuses -- but this is a president who was handed a larger number of really big issues to deal with at the beginning of his presidency than any other president in history.

'He's got to get an economy moving, he's got to get the troops out of Iraq, there's a lot of big, big problems. At the same time, he is working within his administration to try and get in a position to get some meaningful things done to help the gay community achieve equality. That does not preclude any suggestion that we should not keep up the pressure. He has told me, and he has told ... staff in the White House that pressure's a good thing, so people should continue to put pressure on him." - Barack Obama's former deputy campaign director Steve Hildebrand, telling reporter Rex Wockner that he has faith in the president on LGBT issues. Hildebrand has had one-on-one conversations with the president and reports that Obama was "not happy at all" with the language used in the infamous DOJ-DOMA brief.

Read Rex Wockner's excellent interview with Hildebrand in full.

[Photo credit: Rex Wockner]