I'm happy that Ken Mehlman decided to publicly come out of the closet and then to join the fight for marriage equality.
Personally, it must have been a wrenching decision and Mehlman deserves some credit for finally doing something right politically.
BUT, Mehlman's political legacy is shameful and it doesn't get undone by one self-interested act. Mehlman shilled for the only President in history who wanted to write discrimination into the U.S. Constitution.
In order to get re-elected in 2004, George W. Bush appealed to the worst in the American people; he attacked gay marriage and equality; and it worked. It worked because of people like Mehlman.
Ken Mehlman reminds me of George Wallace, Governor of Alabama in the 1960s. Wallace cynically appealed to people's bigotry and fear in order to advance his political career. Then, when the tide of history moved on, he apologized.
Is it good enough?
In 1963, Governor George Wallace proudly proclaimed:
Segregation now! Segregation tomorrow! Segregation forever!
He rode racism, resentment, fear and division to political power - becoming the most powerful Southern governor and a presidential contender. In the late 1970s, when it was clear that Wallace had chosen the wrong side of history, Wallace famously apologized:
[Wallace] said that while he had once sought power and glory, he realized he needed to seek love and forgiveness. In 1979, as blacks began voting in large numbers in Alabama, Wallace said of his stand in the schoolhouse door: "I was wrong. Those days are over and they ought to be over
It's a very good thing that George Wallace apologized and I sincerely hope it earned his soul some peace. But the apology was not enough to redeem his legacy.
Now that Ken Mehlman has come to terms with his own sexuality, he has an opportunity to begin undoing some of the damage he helped do to the cause of equality in America (And, admittedly, Ken Mehlman was not nearly as bad as George Wallace).
After serving as a public champion for a man who stood against equality, Mehlman has a moral obligation to become a public champion for equality.
But that's not enough.
Our standards are pretty low if we decide that an apology for discriminating against yourself is sufficient for redemption. Millions of people were harmed by Bush's cynical policies.
Will Mehlman now speak for all the American soldiers and Iraqis who were killed by lies that Mehlman helped sell to start and prolong a cynical war?
Will he now speak for the millions of people on the economic margins who fell into poverty due to Bush's economic policies (Bush remains the only candidate since Hoover who saw the poverty rate consistently rise during his term)?
Will he now speak for those whom he helped silence?
Because if Mehlman decides that speaking for LGBT equality is enough to redeem his legacy, well, he's self-centered and, after all these years, still back-asswards wrong.