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With chances fading quickly that Congress will end the policy of “Don’t ask, don’t tell,” The Hill has concluded this will be a political disaster for Obama.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) may not be able to secure enough votes to pass the bill because of language repealing the ban on gays in the military. Stripping that provision may be the only way to pass the legislation, which authorizes funding and sets policy for the Pentagon.
But abandoning the effort to repeal the “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy would be a political disaster for President Obama, who made a campaign promise to end the ban.
It is important to remember that this is a political disaster entirely of Obama’s own creation. If Obama had made a strong push for the repeal of DADT, but was completely thwarted by Republicans, then the LGBT community would probably be disappointed, but not necessarily angry with Democrats.
This is a political disaster because Obama made no serious effort to twist arms for a repeal of DADT. More importantly, he is the Commander in Chief–the day Obama took office, he could have single-handedly issued a stop-loss order ending discharges under DADT. Yet even weeks after the Senate failed to pass legislation dealing with DADT, Obama refuses to use his power to end the dismissals.
The political disaster isn’t that Obama promised to end DADT, tried, and failed. He promised to end DADT, yet refuses to doing anything about it despite having the power. The real political disaster in his handling of DADT is that it has proven to an entire community that the president will promise action to one group, but do nothing to actually advance the cause–rendering all future promises suspect.
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per Dan Choi,
Reid’s Office underscores the point
I expect DADT repeal to pass. Obama will give GOP more tax cuts for the rich in return. All GOP really care about is money for the rich.
p.s. apparently all the WH thought they needed to do was get everyone to climb in to the Veal Pen
there’s that “decoupling” thingy again :D
but then …VaJa’s triangulating hopes were dashed
I really don’t know what the F happened here – were they simply trying to make HRC look credible as they rode in to safe the day ? or did Palm Center and the other groups actually go in to the Veal Pen only to climb out hours later
inquiring firedogs wanna know
Good points. Seems to fall in line with going back on a lot of what he promised to try to achieve.
But the article here points out something Obama did which will go deep into the gay community and beyond to groups the Dems needed–Obama made many new or optimistic voters cynical. He and his establishment supporters undercut potential movements by making Democratic politics about him.
“Promise…then do nothing”
and then whine about how ungrateful we all are and call us all whiners when we point this out (and refuse to buy his “but I’m soooo helpless legislatively” crap).
All while actively defending the policy through the courts, iirc.
Promise, do nothing, and lie. HCR all over again.
Thanks John, the title says it all.
Speaking as a member if that community, I agree with that statement.
I think that’s extremely optimistic. My prediction is no repeal of DADT but making rich tax cuts permanent and I’m leaning toward only temporary extension of middle class tax cuts. Oh and gutting Social security? Gonna happen. If not in the lame duck Congress, then in the next one.
Oh he’s doing something about it alright: Defending it in court.
And even to the non-LGBT community, he looks craven or dishonest. Playing both sides seems to alienate everyone…as we’ve notices.
Remember, Barack Obama could end the enforcement of DADT today, easily, legally and with the commonly used method of a stop loss order under 10 USC 12305.
Could do that today. Could have done it any day since he has been in office.
But this time it only effects teh gays! /s
And let’s face it, we’re just as bad as the dirty fucking hippies. In fact, some of us are BOTH!
IOW: blather, rinse, repeat.
soooooo tired of it. but, then, who around the Lake isn’t tired of it?
simple stuff too;
“at a time when our military personal is lower then we need for national security, there are not only a legal, civil, constitutional and humanitarian reasons there is now a national security emergency that MUST be address
and if we do not repeal dadt then we will be forced to initiate a draft to fill the ranks back to the levels that will secure our armed forces and our nation
etcetera
etcetera
etcetera”
I really have to say, is there ANYTHING we have been happy with this president?
hmmm
for some reason I can not edit, anyone know why?
oh, wait, it’s a bug
oh wait again, I CAN edit when posting a diary
so why the hell doesn’t this board just switch over to the diary software that’s already installed until this glitch is fixed?
getting to think this glitch is gonna get fixed when obama votes for a progressive solution instead of a corportate disaster
Abandon civil rights and cut social security. What else can Obama do to destroy the Democratic party? How about bombing Iran?
I’m getting really cranky with everything the democrats do, there really is nothing to do but start voting third party
and we already have one going, the “progressive” bank of the dems should simply break off and call themselves “the progressive party”
they are half way there, let them keep going
Of all Prez Bungler’s myriad bullshit, I think this really is the most infuriating. Because a) it’s people’s HUMAN RIGHTS, and b) repeal was all but handed to him on a silver platter with dancing girls and a fucking brass band, and he’s gone out of his way to thwart it at every turn, like some fucking recalcitrant toddler.
This is really like being in an emotionally abusive relationship with a sadistic creep or something. I wish I could throw his fucking clothes out onto the front yard.
FUCK!
let’s see now, what else can he do to destroy the democratic party…hmmmm
how about forcing a corporate health insurance bill down the throats of every living american without giving them some government option
or
how about reducing public sector jobs when we are going through a depression
or
how about giving middle class assets to the criminals that brought our economy to it’s knees
or
how about giving criminals retro-active immunity for the crimes they committed against our nation
or
how about insisting on capitulating with every frigging thing the republicans want
or
how about committing torture
or
how about keeping innocent people in prison indefinately
or
how about suspending the constitution for whoever he wants
or
how about sanctioning americans for assasination with absolutely no oversite
etcetera
etcetera
etcetera
oh, wait, he already did those things
Ohhhhh, not just bombing Iran, nuking them. Oh it might start of conventionally but it won’t end that way. Anything else wouldn’t be bipartisany.
If we assume it was deliberate, we should think about a what for?
I’ve been pondering it for months and the only thing that makes any sense to me is he is a Trojan Horse for some treasonous forces. He acts like a Republican, it is weird to say the least. I don’t think he is a legitimate president, he is acting too much like a puppet.
I know I was called a “hater” for saying stuff like this about Bush, but when one president after another is following some hidden, coup like agenda, it is time to start wondering what the hell is going on.
DADT: A Political Disaster Entirely of Obama’s Making
Too bloody true! All he has to do is sign a C-in-C order and get it done………. now!
Republicans might huff and puff, but the logistics of trying to rescind said order, under a future R. admin, would be too dire to seriously contemplate.
The guy has no fcuking clue.
I keep running all the signature issues/legist through my head – and can’t think of a one that wasn’t legislated/crafted without consideration for Corporate Interests and or 2012 electoral fortunes
and here we have something with zero, zip, nada Corporate concerns and 78% of the electorate in favor and it lies undone
leaving me with only one truly sickening conclusion as to why this is so – it is inescapable that this is this man’s personal choice
I’m still FURIOUS that Obama allowed the military to take a survey to see what the enlisted and commissioned members thought about it. That sent entirely the wrong message to them.
I’m also still furious that the Air Force Academy in Colorado hasn’t been shut down due to its religious discrimination against non Christians, and that rape of female service members is still not punished harshly.
It broke when they changed over to MyFDL.
If only we had 60 votes, we could get Edit fixed!
Do you have a theory as to why he doesn’t?
One of the worst things about the DFH’s is how they are OK with the Gay.
It sure made him look weak. NOT a good reputation for a commander in chief.
then again, it could be argued that it hasn’t been acted upon because there is no electoral percentage in it for this craven git and his crew
But, as to the survey, haven’t I heard that the cannon fodder isn’t particularly concerned about gays in the military? So what’s the current excuse for delaying? Obama is the weakest president I’ve seen in my lifetime. At least Carter tried….and Carter has a soul. Obama seems not to have a soul or a spine. Fie!
When is Oprah gonna speak out against Obama? If she would speak up about the promises Obama has broken and his plainly bad policies, J.Q. Public would have a podium that not even Fox Noise could screw up.
Another example of America shaking itself to pieces for no good reason.
For one, gays have always been in the military.
The Uniform Code would still require proper dress and behavior.
The UCMJ would still prohibit sexual harassment
The average guy and gal in uniform probably supports gay rights
If somebody is saving your life you don’t care if they are gay/lesbian.
This is just more ‘culture war’ dissembling on the part of the right wing, but surprise, surprise! BHO rises to the bait.
I know this flies in the face of a huge wall of conventional wisdom, but I am beginning to think BHO is stupid.
I almost wrote that in a comment today. At the very least he is limited.
Mr. Narcissist sure isn’t going to do anything that he thinks will make him look bad. That’s a common trait among politicians though. What makes him unique is his incredibly bad judgment of what would make him look bad.
Entirely of his own making?
No.
This autumn there was a vote in the US Senate where DADT would have been repealed as part of the defense appropriation bill. All but 2 Democratic Senators voted for it and every damn Republican Senator voted against it.
I think the Republicans who have demonized and targeted the gay community in election after election might fairly be assigned some of the blame.
“Does this presidency make my butt look big?”
The simplest answer is usually the correct one:
Obama is a homophobe.
He does not believe gays are equal. Period.
He knows that gays and their allies vote, so he made a bunch of noise about looking out for the rights of the LGBT community.
And yet, at the same time, made it clear that he does not support same sex marriages.
Why not?
There are a few reasons why one would not support same sex marriages:
1. Same sex marriages do not produce offspring.
* neither do old people, or people who marry with no intention of having children, or sterile women or men. But they can marry just fine.
2. The bible says same sex relationships are wrong.
* the bible also says we should keep slaves and stone our kids if they talk back to us. It also says we should stone adulterers. But we do not do these things. Why? They are wrong. Therefore “the bible says” is not a valid reason.
3. Making same sex marriages the same as traditional marriages would “degrade” traditional marriages.
* why? how? the only way this is possible is if same sex partners do not feel love the same way heterosexual partners do.
And there is the crux of it. The only valid reason Obama can have for not supporting same sex marriages is that homosexual relationships are inferior.
Over at DKos, there’s a another happy-clappy Presidential photodiary coming up.
Matthew Yglesias thinks we should raise the eligibility age for Medicare and shift seniors onto the exchanges. And if you read his whole post, he seems to be arguing that we eliminate Medicare altogether:
Instead of trying to soft-pedal the issue with the word “paternalistic”, Matt should just embrace his inner libertarian and refer to Medicare as part of the nanny state.
The operative word is “this autumn” and Reid himself says Obama has not been engaged in the issue. This legislation didn’t come up “this autumn” almost two full years since his election, because Obama wanted it brought up, it was Reid’s bone to the liberals before the election. period. If it had been up to Obama to raise the issue, we’d still be waiting.
that tweet might just as well have read, O not engaged on anything whatsoever.
For the cause of world peace through war, we must be prepared to accept some collateral damage:
General “Buck” Turgidson: Mr. President, we are rapidly approaching a moment of truth both for ourselves as human beings and for the life of our nation. Now, truth is not always a pleasant thing. But it is necessary now to make a choice, to choose between two admittedly regrettable, but nevertheless *distinguishable*, postwar environments: one where you got twenty million people killed, and the other where you got a hundred and fifty million people killed.
President Merkin Muffley: You’re talking about mass murder, General, not war!
General “Buck” Turgidson: Mr. President, I’m not saying we wouldn’t get our hair mussed. But I do say no more than ten to twenty million killed, tops. Uh, depending on the breaks.
We truly live in absurd times.
That explains why Obama has done the following:
Appointed a record number of LGBT officials to his administration, more than ever before.
Signed the Matthew Shephard Act into law.
Ended the 22 year old HIV travel ban.
Issued memorandum to expand the rights of LBGT people in regards to medical rights.
Extended federal benefits to same-sex partners of federal employees.
Yes, in some respects he has mishandled this issue. But, that does not grant you a license to claim he is a homophobe.
He just plan lied to get elected… “rendering all future promises suspect”. What is this man going to run on? Just as 2010, the dems will have nothing to run on except how crazy the republicans are and the progressives of radio and Media will contribute by telling us over and over, how horrible Sarah, glen Beck, tea party and on and on are.
Why, some of his best friends are faggo- er, gays! As long as they use the back door, of course. And he won’t be inviting any of them over for Thanksgiving – gotta keep ‘em away from the children…
Obama’s real feelings towards gays was made crystal clear when he let that homophobe preacher run his campaign rallies in the South.
and had that other homophobe preacher give the invocation at his innaugural.
I’m not buying his “token” appointments as evidence for his lack of homophobia either.
There has been no serious effort to twist any arms on any issue other than trying to force members of his ostensible party to “compromise” with republicans who would rather eat shit on the Capitol Mall than compromise with any Democrat on any substantive issue.
Epic Fail = Barack Hussein Obama
Everyone here is being a bit too generous with their impression of ObamaAss. The fool is a one trick pony with a lying face and body that houses no real heart or soul. He is perverse and dangerous, because as a asswipe marionette, he let’s the ‘big boys(MOTU)’ push him around and dance on those strings while the ventriloquists in the corner polish turds as words and make him eject them gems from his mouth.
Blah…blah…blah…about all the things he has done for the LGBT…bullshit, the dude has not done the most significant and long term effective action that he could take…END DADT! But he will not because he is fuckin full of hidden agendas, he IS a homophobe hiding in a Prez suit, and his actions are not of any type of dimensional chess strategy. It is the plainly evident and grotesque dismantling of the country by him, the Repubs and Dimocrats, and the their respective masters that rule all that the eye can see…
They are all clearly infected with a hideous virus that makes them think and act like they are so fucking exceptional, that they have now become the world’s ‘untouchables’. But history has proven that type of heavy karma inducing illness will self-destruct sooner or later. I am hoping for much sooner, and if I can do anything to hasten the events that will bring that about…just sign me up!
And the Repugs put Michael Steele and Clarence Thomas in their positions of power..
Comedic gold.
Donnie McClurkin, Rick Warren, Faith-Based Initiatives, Charter Schools, Vouchers, Private Church Schools, Teachers’ Union Busting, Private Prisons, Domestic Surveillance, Indefinite Detention, Beer Summit.
Have a good laugh on that comedic gold…
but remember the next time ObamaAss has a friendly let’s get together and have a beer-garden party with some LGBT community folk, watch how many times he wipes his beer glass rim…he’ll have a beer with you…CAUTIOUSLY…but no caution exhibited when he sends you off to fight HIS wars, while he sews up his lips in putting an end to DADT!
Homophobe in spades he be…
Isn’t it ironic that by the actions of others standing up for the civil rights of all, which made it possible for Obama to be elected as our first African American president in the first place, yet he won’t stand up for the civil rights of others? That’s beyond shameful. The man’s moral compass points nowhere.
Oh…And as far as the giving his word thing? Liars lie. Don’t get fooled again.
Be carefull. People might make unfair judgments about you.
He’s not a homophobe. He’s just a terrible coward. Everything about him is based on fear about what others may think, but not actually think. He decided to listen to that other great coward, Rahm, who told him that Repugs are men and “men” will think you’re weak if you stand for gay rights. They’ll think you’re a fag too. But with all of his nambly pambly, weak actions, they already think that anyway. And that is the tragedy of the Obama administration. Always so desperate to avoid being labeled the things they always manage to be labeled anyway precisely because they stand for nothing.
Exactly the right way to pitch it.. we should encourage and welcome every young American who volunteers for military service or we may be forced to re-activate Selective Service to conscript young Americans for military service.
Go see the Charles Ferguson movie Inside Job… GREAT movie, by the end Ferguson owns so many people on camera, its pretty funny.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/monkeysee/2010/10/01/130273644/-inside-job-director-charles-ferguson-taking-aim-at-wall-street
watertiger is upstairs!
Late Night: The Umpteenth Resurrection of Nosferatu
Thank you very much og!
Obama promises fall on deaf ears. He is a liar. He has betrayed his base. Primary him 1n 2012.
The real political disaster is that DADT has been pushed to the fron of the line ahead of ENDA.
Why should we care about those blinkered gays and lesbins longing to fight for oil more than everyday gays and lesbians just looking for a little job security?
Whys is that?
Anyone?
Bueller?
And then he wonders why we didnt show up for the midterms.
The “Progressive Party”, like every other third party ever attempted or imagined, cannot compete in an arena which requires funding from corporate billionaires. It might be possible to get organized labor behind the effort, but unions are mere shadows of their former selves, and are still being beaten into the dust by the Billionaires’ Club and their political puppets in the two corporate money parties.
It looks to me like Obama is actually getting the policy he wants. He doesn’t want DADT or DOMA repealed or changed in any way. He is a homophobe, looking for any and every excuse to keep the LGBT crowd as second-class citizens.
I agree. Russ Feingold and Alan Grayson are available…
Offer me another reason why he would not support same-sex marriages.
I will shoot it down for you.
But perhaps homophobe isn’t the right word. McCain is a homophobe. Obama just doesn’t feel that homosexual relationships are of equal quality to heterosexual relationships, so I guess prejudiced would be a more accurate term.
I read the comments and the general concensus is that the President is not progressive enough for progressives and a socialist to the conservatives; quite a feat for one guy, huh? Beauty, is evidently not in the eye of the beholder here. I think we progressives expected too much and the conservatives are just, as usual, nuts. This is interesting reading.
Regardless, the point is he isn’t “motivated” by a visceral feeling of “wrongness” about the policy as would be someone who truly feels that all people should be treated equally regardless of sexual orientation.
Instead, he is going to have to want to get it done for political reasons; and he is not quite “getting” the degree to which OTHER people feel that visceral “wrongness” about it.
Also, I like “quotes” a lot. Can you “tell”?
I keep wondering when all the unemployed psychologist might devote some time and analysis toward BHOs apparent pathological narcisism. He certainly has behaved like a Mamma’s boy who only hears things he wants to hear (like “You are the bestest boy in the whole wide world no matter what anyone says!) and has shown himself to be his own biggest fan–which has resulted in his other fans deserting his ship of fools.
He’s definately a one-termer, but DAMN! We don’t have time to live through another 2 years of him preening and primping himself while Rome burns!
Priceless!
Ironic!
Democracy cannot function in a political system that permits unlimited and anonymous campaign funding by corporations and billionaires. The United States Supreme Court killed our democracy in Citizens United.
A Progressive Party would not only survive, it would do well because according to all of the polls, a majority of the people support progressive views even though they might not believe their views are progressive or describe them as progressive.
Why? Because progressive opinions are common sense opinions.
When the bullshit is exposed for what it is, progressive views are inherently centrist views by definition and always will be.
I favor marginalizing and destroying the Republican and Democratic parties because they are same party and they represent the anti-democracy billionaires and their corporations who seek to enslave us in debt.
How do you propose to overturn Citizens United and implement campaign finance reform? We can’t pretend that money doesn’t rule the election cycle. If “common sense” were all it took to win the day, we’d be there already with progressive majorities in both houses passing progressive legislation. Last time I checked (about 15 seconds ago), that still wasn’t the case.
Knowledgeable conservatives know that Obama is not a socialist or a communist. They know that he is an extremely conservative neoliberal free market corporatist opposed to (1) regulating business practices, (2) safety nets, (3) social security, (4) Medicare, and (5) Medicaid; while in foreign affairs, he is a neoconservative pro war corporatist who wants to establish a world empire. They call him a socialist and a communist just to confuse people and persuade them to act and vote against their own best interests through the intentional manipulation of their Pavlovian conditioned fear response to those isms.
Nothing particularly complicated to understand about it, but it may take a violent revolution to undue the harm the right wing has caused.
Revolution.
Pray that it isn’t too late to accomplish non-violently.
We have no other choice except to give up and let them destroy us.
Well said Jon. Boils down to conviction and guts. Obama has neither. The silver tongued elitist has sold out gays and the entire middle class to status quo corporatism.
Recognize that Oprah is also part of the American elite. She is an extremely wealthy businesswoman. The fact that she occasionally hosts sponsor-driven giveaways to her audience means little or nothing. ditto for her charitable work-it’s one big tax write-off.
And for every other decision or non-decision by Obama, there’s MasterCard.
What is also appalling is his inability to take what looks like a negative (politically) and turn it in to a positive through quick framing and timing.
If I had been President in his position, I would have waited until there was a fresh geyser of shit erupting, say, more economic meltdown, or a fresh terrorism threat, and amid the hubbub simply repeal DADT through executive order.
When the anti-gay forces started frothing at the mouth and screaming I would have dismissed them with a wave of the hand and said that gays have consistently performed with admirable distinction, that these same types of arguments were used to keep blacks out of the service, and anyway we don’t have the luxury at a time of economic and military severity to quibble about this crap. Any patriotic American would want the best qualified personnel in the services, so get your priorities
straightright, America. We have work to do and we need to get at it. End of statement and say no more about it and be the fu***** Commander in Chief. People would have equated him with Truman and he would have looked like a man in charge instead of a sniveling, ducking, duplicitous weasel-wimp.Aaaannnndddd, he would be an enduring hero to an active, passionate and well informed constituency who would have worked hard for him in the future. And the issue could have been put to rest instead of being a festering sore.
The stunning, remarkable, confounding fact is, that on all levels, Obama is just lousy.
You know, it’s the same with the wars, DADT, the Banksters, Elizabeth Warren, a JOBS bill. Bush tax cuts. Social Security. All these cry out for decisive leadership. What does the country get (not just we Progs, but the whole country?) Nothing.