The consequences of the continued leadership void in Washington, D.C., seem to be becoming increasingly dangerous for pro-LGBT initiatives, including the much needed repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell. An abomination given to LGBT Americans by a weak willed Bill Clinton. Since taking office, President Obama has refused to take a leadership role in legislating the change that he promised throughout his campaign. Health care reform efforts have been disastrous. Now DADT is feared to be another casualty of the leaderless and spineless national Democrats. Nathaniel Frank of the Palm Center has a very direct piece at Huffington Post that looks at DADT and throws responsibility directly at Obama's feet. Interestingly enough, a new CNN poll indicates that a majority of voters do not believe that Obama deserves a second term based on his performance to date. Yes, things can change between now and 2012, but bad impressions can sometimes be difficult to reverse. Moreover, I believe Obama won election because voters hungered for an inspiring LEADER who could motivate AND DELIVER on promised changes. Sadly, we have seen a leadership vacuum. Here are highlights from Frank's alarming piece at Huffington Post:*
[D]espite the military's move to relax and soon do away with "don't ask, don't tell," repeal in Congress is in grave peril. This is so even though the much-vaunted supermajority in the senate is not necessary to repeal the current policy. As Sen. Carl Levin, the Chairman of the Armed Services Committee explained to his colleague, Sen. Joe Lieberman, an amendment to repeal the policy can be added to the must-pass Defense Authorization bill, which would turn the tables on the "no-to-everything" Republicans: the amendment would require a supermajority not to pass, but to remove, meaning that in order to keep the ban in place, the GOP would have to block the entire Pentagon spending bill, publicly undercutting the military.
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[A]s Servicemembers United has outlined in a memo, legislation for repeal does not have to wait for the study results because the issue at hand is not whether, but how, to end the ban. Legislative repeal could accommodate the Pentagon's requested timeline for further study, while locking the fact of repeal into place by the end of 2011.
So what's the hold up? President Obama has said he will work with Congress "this year" to lift the ban. (Sen. Levin could put repeal into the Chairman's mark, but it's not clear he has the incentive to do so.) But Obama has also said he'd like Congress to take the lead. Sound familiar? In an interview in 2009, Obama finally acknowledged that this very same tactic with healthcare was a mistake: . . . Sure enough, despite momentum toward repeal of the gay ban, the airwaves are beginning to fill with balderdash about openly gay service leading to a draft and, horror of horrors, government endorsement of tattoos.
So why on earth would the President take the same failed tack with reforming the gay ban? Why not put real teeth into his promise by telling the Pentagon to put repeal in the Authorization bill? Probably because this champion of a "new day" in politics continues to suffer from the Democrats' longtime aversion to taking the lead on gay rights, out of fear that culture warriors will exploit their position--never mind that Democrats lose more power by appearing bereft of principles and deliverables than by appearing to support equal treatment.
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It's also not helping that the gay community has too often given the President a pass on leading on this issue. Yes, Congress has to pass repeal to get this law off the books, but that process should begin with Obama telling the Pentagon to put repeal in the Authorization bill. And for that to happen, gay groups will need to let the White House know that the status quo is not acceptable. Bloggers this week called for the President to take the lead, but also focused their attention on the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the most powerful gay rights group in the world, which has been accused of championing repeal publicly, while privately assuring the White House that it can continue to go slow.
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If President Obama is serious about lifting the ban in his first term, he should put repeal into the 2011 Defense Authorization bill. If the military brass can call for an end to the ban, and if Republicans Dick Cheney and Colin Powell can join them in supporting this step, surely Democrats and gay groups should be on the frontlines of pressing for real action.
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As readers know, I have given Obama few passes since he signaled that he was throwing LGBT Americans under the bus as far back as the Inauguration when Obama insulted LGBT Americans by having fat tub of lard, Christo-fascist Rick Warren give the invocation. But as mentioned above, I am not the only one fed up with Obama's refusal to provide the strong leadership he said he'd provide throughout the 2008 campaign. Here are highlights on the CNN poll that shows most Americans currently would not vote to return Obama to the White House:
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Do you think Barack Obama deserves to be re-elected, or not? If you're like most Americans, your answer is "No," according to a poll released on Tuesday by CNN. The perception was even worse for members of Congress nationwide -- but respondents still indicated they were likely to re-elect their current Representative. With identical numbers for all Americans as well as for just registered voters, 52 percent said the President does not deserve to be re-elected
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Whether or not respondents felt they deserved re-election, if forced to vote for a Congressional candidate today, 47 percent would pick the Republican candidate while only 45 percent would pick the Democrat. That portion of the survey had a margin of error of 3 percent.
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Obama and the Congressional Democrats were given a perhaps once in a life time opportunity to deliver on what voters wanted. They failed to deliver and the Democrats may well suffer a well deserved bloodbath in November. When is Obama going to wake the Hell up??
