I see that in his SOTU speech tonight, President Obama renewed his promise to introduce legislation that would end the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy. Of course, he promised to end DADT back when he was still a candidate, but shelved that promise in order to focus his time, energy, and political capital on expanding government's control over your health care. But is it really that hard to end DADT? My primitive infantryman brain recalls that Truman did something eerily similar to in 1948, with Executive Order 9981: It is hereby declared to be the policy of the President that there shall be equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed services without regard to race, color, religion or national origin. This policy shall be put into effect as rapidly as possible, having due regard to the time required to effectuate any necessary changes without impairing efficiency or morale. EO 9981 of couse, is also known as the order by which segregation was ended in the military. It was signed in July, in the middle of Truman's election campaign, at a time when he was in for a big fight for the Presidency against a strong Republican challenger. Integrating the military may have gained Truman more votes than it cost him, but it's unclear whether or not he knew it at the time. So. Leaving aside your opinion on DADT -- and we've had some spirited debates here on Blackfive about the policy -- it appears that President Obama believes DADT is unjust. And according to at least some experts on military law, he can do it without Congress' approval. At the very least he can issue the Executive Order, and wait for the courts to overturn it, or for Congress to pass a law that restores it. But that's not what he's doing. President Obama sees no percentage in spending his political capital with an Executive Order, so he's punting to Congress. And he can. He knows full well that homosexuals aren't about to vote for Mike Huckabee. But what does it say about a President who doesn't have the stones do do what he believes to be the right thing? If I was gay, how would I feel about having him as an ally? If I was in the military, how would I feel about him as my Commander in Chief? I'd watch my back, if I was you.
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Posted
Jan 27 2010, 04:40 PM
by
BLACKFIVE