President Obama has, for some reason, taken time off from his busy schedule to berate his own supporters for “taking their ball and going home.” What is a far more productive thing that Obama could have done with those ten minutes? He could have used his power as Commander in Chief to suspend discharges related to “don’t ask, don’t tell,” effectively ending a horribly discriminatory practice with the stroke of a pen.

Three benefits would pretty much instantly accrue from this much better use of Obama’s time: One, he could reclaim the moral high ground on this issue because ending DADT is clearly the right and moral thing to do. Two, it would save the government the cost of training replacements for all the perfectly capable servicemen and servicewomen unnecessarily fired. And three, it would actually help excite the Democratic base–at least it would do a better job at that than calling the regular Americans who volunteered for Obama’s ‘08 campaign unserious because they are unhappy with broken promises, secret deals with corporate lobbyists, and 9.5 percent unemployment.

I was more willing than many to give Obama the benefit of the doubt when he held off suspending DADT as he tried to work with Republicans to do it the “right way” through legislation. Well, as I should have expected, that attempt at bipartisan outreach failed miserably, and Senate Republicans chose to simply obstruct. That makes now the perfect time for Obama to exercise his power and suspend DADT discharges as promised. The American people support it, the base would be excited by it, and it would be a way to draw attention the radical, underhanded nature of the Republican Party.

Sadly, instead of being able to commend President Obama for swiftly suspending DADT, it seems I need to explain to Obama what being Commander in Chief actually means. From the Rolling Stone interview:

On social issues, something like “don’t ask, don’t tell.” Here, I’ve got the Secretary of Defense and the Joint Chiefs of Staff both committed to changing the policy. That’s a big deal.

No, Mr. President, in no way is this a big deal. We have civilian control of the military. They work for you. You don’t need to convince them to get on board, you simply order them to get on board. This is like the manager of a McDonald’s bragging that he convinced his employees to be “committed” to making burgers. You are the boss, they are under you command, now act like it.

Dear President Obama: right now, this very moment, is the perfect time to spend 10 minutes penning an order to effectively end the injustice known as “don’t ask, don’t tell.”