Frankly, some - and I am one of them - have there doubts as to whether or not Barack Obama, a/k/a the Liar-in-Chief on this blog, has ever been truly serious about repealing DADT. Oh yes, there have been many statements that he supports repeal and some would argue that he's pushed the Joint Chiefs to sign onto repeal. But if he truly wanted repeal, why then the utterly f*cked up timing of his effort? Now, because of (deliberate?) bad timing, the clock may well run out on repeal this year - something that could doom legislative repeal for years. Salon has an article on how Obama could finish repeal despite these obstacles, The questions then become: (1) does he really want repeal or has he been cynically been playing a political game to play both sides against the middle, and (2) will he use the repeal tools at his disposal? Candidly, I do not trust the Liar-in-Chief whatsoever and have lost all respect for the man, so I'm not holding my breath that he will do the right thing. Here are highlights from Salon:*
[I]f quick deal is reached on tax cuts, there may still be time to get to DADT. But let’s say this doesn’t happen -- that the GOP succeeds in running out the clock on 2010. Obama will still have gained some powerful tools from the past year: Republican senators publicly declaring that DADT needs to go, a Pentagon report that makes for a priceless talking point, and the good faith of military leaders, who watched him honor his commitment not to rush repeal.
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The question is what Obama will do with these tools. Capitol Hill will be a far more conservative place in 2011, with the House filled with right-wing Republicans who don’t share Scott Brown’s fear of angering general election constituents who don’t like the DADT policy. It’s hard to imagine repeal getting through Congress under these conditions. In other words, the hope for repeal will rest with Obama himself: Would he then be willing to issue an executive order?
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To date, he’s refused to do so, claiming that DADT took away his power to act unilaterally. Whether this is actually true is a matter of intense debate. Plenty of legal scholars believe Obama, as the commander in chief of the armed forces, is entirely within his power to decree that the military stop discriminating against gay and lesbian personnel.
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But if it becomes clear that Republicans in Congress, even those who say they support repeal, are committed to making excuses for keeping DADT intact, then Obama will have much more political cover for issuing an executive order.
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The knock on Obama, of course, is that he seems allergic to bold steps like this -- that if DADT repeal dies in Congress now, he’ll throw up his hands and say, “I tried my best” and leave it at that. . . . Then again, in the wake of the Pentagon report, the idea of ending DADT with an executive order may not seem nearly as radical as it did a few months ago. For Obama, it may just be the next logical step.
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Sadly, I suspect Obama lacks the backbone to issue an executive order. I fear he'll simply say "I tried and those mean Republicans stopped me" as the bus rolls over the backs of LGBT Americans yet again on Obama's pathetic watch. I'd love to be proved wrong, but my gut tells me - with the benefit of hindsight - that the LGBT community has never had a friend in this White House. So, I'm hoping for a primary challenge in the lead up to 2012 so that Obama can be the one term president that he deserves to be.
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