The Obama administration does intend to preside over the repeal of the military's Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy banning gays from its ranks, and it does have a strategy to get there from here. Unfortunately, Obama and the gay community are at different starting points, and those who've been on the frontlines of the fight, not to mention those who are getting fired from their jobs, are much more restless and much less patient -- no surprise here.
You can see the outline of the strategy in the administration's decision to let stand an appeals court ruling
requiring the military to explain why being gay is, in itself, a reason
to have fired a highly regarded lesbian Air Force major. The effect of
not appealing the ruling will put the burden on the government to
explain to skeptical judges why being gay is inherently incompatible
with military service, something the administration (and many in the
military) believe is very hard to prove, let alone justify. The hope
here is that by allowing the military to make its best case -- and then
seeing that case be torn apart by the courts, a critical mass of
opposition to Don't Ask, Don't Tell, will build.
Obama will
probably convene a commission -- not sure yet whether it'll be a blue
ribbon dealy or a smaller task force -- that will, under the guise of
studying the "problem," be tasked with coming up with ways to
meaningfully and safely integrate open homosexuality with military
service. No mistake here: the administration will not give this
commission the option to decide that being gay is not compatible with
service. But the idea is to build a consensus through all available
means -- legally, through the courts, in public, through a concerted
but non-hectoring public relations effort, in the military, by
conveying the sense that Obama takes the objections to his view
seriously -- and then, when such a consensus has arisen, work with
Congress to change the policy.
That's what Obama wants. He wants
consensus, and that doesn't simply mean the approval of the American
public, which, by and large, supports gays who want to serve in the
military. This approach by no means endears him to gay rights
activists, and it probably shouldn't. But it's what Obama has decided
to do.
That's all well and good. There will come times when Obama has to drop the consensus stuff and just make a judgment ... or a decision .. and "Just do it!!". Then what? Are Republicans really going to come to a consensus on this and most issues? He hasn't shown any inclination to steamroll Republicans when he needs to. That will hurt him.
I'm sorry, I'm a little unclear. Are you getting this scenario from somewhere within the administration or are you pulling it out of the air? If it's from somewhere, I'd like to know where, and if it's not, I'll put it on the pile with all the other hopeful scenarios that permit President Obama to be on our side without actually doing anything to be on our side.
If I understand the law right it isn't up to the administration buy Congress...
Title 10 of the US Code specifically prohibits homsexuality in the US Forces. It would seem to me that Reid and Pelosi are in charge of this thing NOT BHO.
Specifically the law as currently written says:
A member of the armed forces shall be separated from the armed forces under regulations prescribed by the Secretary of Defense if one or more of the following findings is made and approved in accordance with procedures set forth in such regulations:
(1) That the member has engaged in, attempted to engage in, or solicited another to engage in a homosexual act or acts unless there are further findings, made and approved in accordance with procedures set forth in such regulations, that the member has demonstrated that—
(A) such conduct is a departure from the member’s usual and customary behavior;
(B) such conduct, under all the circumstances, is unlikely to recur;
(C) such conduct was not accomplished by use of force, coercion, or intimidation;
(D) under the particular circumstances of the case, the member’s continued presence in the armed forces is consistent with the interests of the armed forces in proper discipline, good order, and morale; and
(E) the member does not have a propensity or intent to engage in homosexual acts.
It seems the beef shouldn't be with DOD, but rather with Congress.
I'm a litle confused. If Obama give an excutive order or what not to repeal DADT, couldn't the next Republican Prez (in God forbid 4 years, or 8 years,hopefully NEVER!) just come along as Obama did, and issue another excutive order to re-instate it? For that little probablility alone, wouldn't it be better to have Congress intact legislation that will repeal DADT, and at least make it harder to reverse it?
Not sure this is something that needs consensus on--poll after poll after poll shows Americans are okay with repealing it.
To lamh32's question about an executive order: excellent point, but I think the intent of one would be to immediately stop *enforcement* of the policy while Congress works to repeal law, something we'd expect (hopefully!) to be done before Obama's first term is up.
Consensus, Ben W., would be used primarily for the officers' benefit in the military. Those who would be opposed to such a strategy. As evident from today's press conference at the pentagon, there is considerable effort to push back this repeal. You include them in the dialogue and respectfully destroy their arguments against it, they'll find themselves having no choice but to agree with yours. It's classic Obama strategy.
In regards to your, hopefully assessment, it's a little too soon to be worried, and I'm actually a little angry at activists on this issue. We're four months in his first term and it's not ALL activists, not just gay rights ones, seem to feel that everything should be done immediately. There's still plenty of time, however, if we're coming to the fourth year of his last term and it's still not done? Then that would be pretty problematic. But right now, I don't like saying this, but chill.
The thing is, part of Obama's MO is respect for expertise and authority. A large swath of the US doesn't believe that humans are responsible for climate change. The administration's attitude towards them is that they should get bent, and this is correct.
Yes, popular consensus favors a repeal of DADT. But the consensus is not all there in the military yet, and they're the ones who will be tasked with integrating openly gay service members, with maintaining troop morale, etc. If they're pissed about the decision, the decision will go badly.
In practice, those in the military who support DADT are wrong. But their opinions do matter - and because they are the authorities and the experts on this subject, their opinions matter as much, if not more, than random man on the street opinions.
I wish Obama would move faster. But I understand the logic of making sure he doesn't alienate the military.