More Betrayal by Obama on DADT Repeal?

It seems that every time that I begin to feel remotely hopefully that Barack Obama has perhaps not just been cynically using LGBT Americans, yet more information surfaces that makes me feel that I was duped back in the 2008 campaign. It also makes part of me feel like staying home on election day this coming November because Obama and the Congressional Democrats are for the most part - excuse my French - LIARS. Candidly, I will find it hard to go out and vote for Democrats if ENDA is not passed this year. Ditto for a repeal of DADT. While Obama plays games and tries to sucker LGBT citizens for votes and campaign contributions, real lives are being damaged and destroyed by employment discrimination and ended careers under DADT. Kerry Eleveld at The Advocate has a new disquieting story. Here are some highlights:
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As LGBT activists grow more desperate to repeal “don’t ask, don’t tell” before the midterm elections, a picture is emerging of a divided White House where President Barack Obama’s own words are sometimes odds with the message his administration is sending about repeal.
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Early in the year, multiple sources say some administration officials counseled the president against acting on the military’s gay ban in 2010. Still, Obama included his intention to end the policy in his State of the Union address, saying, “This year, I will work with Congress and our military to finally repeal the law…”
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Yet just days after the January 27 speech, White House officials convened a meeting on February 1 with LGBT advocates in which they said the policy would not be included in the president’s recommendations for this year's Department of Defense authorization bill, according to multiple sources with direct knowledge of the meeting.
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“It was a definitive shut-down from [Jim] Messina,” said a source, who was present at the meeting and agreed to speak on the condition of anonymity, referring to the White House deputy chief of staff. “He said it would not be going into the president’s Defense authorization budget proposal.” The news was a blow to activists since the Defense funding bill is the best legislative vehicle for including a measure to overturn the policy. “It almost seemed like the bar on the hurdle got raised two or three times higher,” said the source. The White House declined to comment on the meeting.
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“We have 12 to 13 firm votes for repeal,” said Aubrey Sarvis, executive director of Servicemembers Legal Defense Network. Lobbyists say they are concentrating their efforts in the committee on Democrats Robert Byrd of West Virginia, Evan Bayh of Indiana, Bill Nelson of Florida, Ben Nelson of Nebraska, and Jim Webb of Virginia along with Republican Scott Brown of Massachusetts. Sarvis said he believes some senators are looking for a game-changer, which could come in the form of repeal language that honors the Pentagon’s working group process while still legislatively locking down an end to the policy in 2010.
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President Obama could boost repeal efforts by stating his desire to see the measure passed this year but, more importantly, by getting personally involved with lobbying senators.
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If Obama doesn't become personally engaged, then it looks like LGBT Americans were played for suckers. If repeal does not happen this year and the GOP gains strength in Congress in the mid-term elections, then things will not bode well for repeal anytime soon. I and others will be watching closely and in my case, how and if I vote will hinge on what Obama and Congressional Democrats deliver BEFORE November, 2010. If they want my vote, they'd best get their asses in gear and deliver. They have already lost my financial support.