Chipping away at the mess

There are so many big messes that resist change that we tend to overlook the many, smaller ways in which Obama is making a difference.

For the past 22 years, the U.S. has been one of a handful of countries that bar HIV+ visitors and immigrants from entering the country. Monday, President Obama will announce his order to overturn that ban.

It was originated in 1987 at the height of the AIDS scare. HHS tried to reverse it in 1991; but Congress opposed it and, in 1993, made it worse by making HIV+ status the only medical condition that is explicitly listed under immigration law as grounds for inadmissibility to the U.S.

No major international AIDS conference has been held in the U.S. since 1993, because HIV-positive activists and researchers cannot enter the country.

We Americans are so petty, ignorant, and illogical and so motivated by fear, greed, and paranoia. Obama brings wisdom, intelligence, and common sense. He's letting a little sunshine in, ray by ray.

Ralph