**** NOW HEAR THIS ****
"THE TIMES, THEY ARE A-CHANGING"
"If there are people who cannot deal with the change, then they're going to have to do what's best for their troops and best for the organization and best for the military service and exit the military service, so that we can move forward -- if that's the way that we have to go."Just pause and think what a profound change that is. For the very first time, someone in an official capacity is saying that maybe it is not the gay young men and women who would "upset unit cohesion." Rather, it is the homophobes who cause the problem. If they don't like it, they can leave.
Petraeus himself told Congress last March that he believed the time had come to repeal DADT. And about his personal experience of serving with openly gay CIA officers: "after the 10 seconds of awareness wore off, the focus was on the professional attributes of these individuals."
Now this is the kind of leadership that is needed. The incredibly shrinking John McCain has now become almost too small to be seen.
Ralph
Ralph, do you fault Obama for not fighting hard for this, despite campaigning that he would?
ReplyDeleterichard
I have wanted him to push harder for it -- but I think the process that the the military has gone through, as well as the debate and hearings in congress, have moved it to a better place of acceptance. And I think that a clean, stand-alone bill passed with bipartisan support from Congress is a better way to go than a court order, which would arouse much more backlash.
ReplyDeleteSo, yes, I wanted it to happen long ago. But now that it is about to become reality, I see the wisdom of letting this process unfold. It's not always the best way just to exert your power and force change -- if a little longer delay will allow a better process and advance genuine acceptance further down the road than otherwise.
That's not saying that some times you do have to bite the bullet and use your power and make something happen -- like stopping the tax cuts for billionaires. But, on something like this, I'd rather have broader, genuine support than an executive order. Now, if Congress doesn't pass repeal now, I'm going to wish he had made it happen.
I wasn't thinking of Obama passing legislation, but taking a more active public role in supporting the issue.
ReplyDeleterichard
P.S. And on tax cuts - I heard some Republican say they will have no problem coming up with the money for deficit reduction(in light of the tax cuts). They'll just repeal Obamacare.