The headline in the Globe says it all:
Obama has taken the lessons of the Clinton administration literally in most cases, and doesn't want to repeat Clinton's mistakes.  That much is pretty clear.  After a week-and-a-half of swift and decisive action on the economy, women's issues, and some old culture war standbys (his reversal of Bush on stem cells and abortion funds), he's not quite willing to move on equal rights for gays *sigh*. 

Not content to just do nothing, he has made it a point to do nothing and offer a disingenuous argument as to why he's doing it.  This is typical of Obama's having it both ways on issues he does not want to waste political capital on.  If the Rick Warren debacle is any indication, we should be hearing that Obama has hired an openly gay dog-walker in the next few days. 

The problem with the argument that the effects of the repeal of DADT need to be studied is that they don't.  We already know " the implications of DADT for national security" — the dismissal of a significant number of highly valuable Arabic linguists for nothing but their sexual orientation — not insubordination or misconduct — has created a gaping hole in our nation security structure, for one.  We also know that other nations, including the UK, many EU member states, Australia, and Israel, have integrated gays seamlessly into their armed forces, strengthening their military capabilities in the process.

So we really have all the hard facts we need.  The only unknown for Obama is political.  When Bill Clinton caved on gay rights, the Progressive ripped him a new one: "Is it courage that Bill Clinton lacks, or conviction - or both? That's the only question left hanging after his disgraceful and pusillanimous retreat on the issue of gays and lesbians in the military."

That Obama's inaction will not get him ripped is actually good news for the Commander-in-Chief.  His prudence may pay off.  But even if it does, the fact is we're still only talking about the repeal of a draconian policy that is pretty much universally reviled.  Obama's promise goes no further than "lifting the ban."  That's the easy part.  As I've said before, the goal should be an explicit statement of non-discrimination based on sexual orientation, which would offer the same protection afforded federal civilian employees.

The bright side of all of this is that the hysterical outsized homophobia of certain military top brass is always entertaining.  We will get to hear congressional testimony right out of the pages of Honcho. 


Why is it that straight guys always have the best gay fantasies?  Doesn't seem quite fair.