What should President Obama do about Don't Ask Don't Tell?

[ruggerson]

[dsc]

1. I want to see DADT removed but I want it done correctly

An executive order deciding not to enforce a law he doesn't like isn't right.

[stray cat]

2. I don't think its the top thing he should focus on at the expense of health care,

economy, jobs etc. I think there is a way to do it over the next 4 years that isn't stupid.

[incapsulated]

3. Are you serious?

4 years to take down the "no fags allowed" sign?

It's simple. Health Care is not.

[alwysdrunk]

4. I reluctantly agree

We need to focus on on a few other things first. I do think that "political good will" and "political capital" are hard facts of life in politics. Timing is always key.

[incapsulated]

5. Yes, and *never* spent on gay people

Enough already.

[muffin1]

6. It never ends, does it?

I'm going to have to stay off of threads like these from now on, I fear.
It makes me so angry that so many liberals are willing to overlook equal rights when they apply to gay people.
As though it's different than any other kind of discrimination.

[CTyankee]

9. Has the constitutionality of DADT been tested in the courts?

It would seem to me to be the best way to end this discrimination. I know we don't have the numbers we need on the SC but that will change when we get new justices.

I truly think a good case can also be made that discrimination against gay people in the military is a national security issue. Now, that's my opinion. But I think it's provable nonetheless.

[hulklogan]

11. Many times, and the constitutionality has been upheld.

Most notably in Able vs. United States.

1998 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals decision

[mitchtv]

17. I knew it was a mistake to pul l up this forum

they're all here

[cboy4]

27. Yup. Present and accounted for.

This forum is poison.

[alwysdrunk]

7. *Not right this second* doesn't equal *never*.

You have to prioritize in politics, and in everything in life. That's all the president is doing, working off a prioritized list. I for one am fairly certain that it IS on the list. And for now, that is a good thing. A hell of lot better than when it wasn't on the list at all.

[hulklogan]

8. I don't buy this argument at all. There are hundreds of people working in this administration

and President Obama can't spare a handful to work on the DADT repeal? They seem to have plenty of time to work on other low priority items like faith-based councils and proclamations about Greek Independence Day.

[CTyankee]

10. My sense is that it is Obama's political strategy not to get embroiled in social issues

because he thinks that will get in the way of passage of his health care reform and saving the economy. Not saying I agree with the strategy. I just think we can chalk it up to that.

[William769]

19. Don't foget photo ops!

[TheKentuckian]

23. It isn't about time or manpower

It is about that battle bogging down the ability to functionally accomplish anything else. The rising tides that lift all ships must always be the strategic and primary steps. Gays need health care/insurance reform, clean, abundant, and renewable energy, jobs, and homes as much as anyone else. One may have special, even pressing needs but still remember that the whole raggedy house is falling down faster than anyone can patch it. Not much is worth the risk of handing power back to the Lords of the Morans. Things are way to precarious, the foundation far too shaky.

I expect the President will press this just as soon as he sees the brunt of the opposition fall completely into the quicksand, allowing their crazed squirming to finish them quicker.
I think the time is coming much sooner than later. I grant every moment a hurt but if you don't see why he wasn't fighting that battle while trying to get his budget passed aren't watching how this shit works. The issue energizes the nut job population and next thing you know you're having votes drop off because you can't apply the same pressure to keep folks in line. The Republicans though will march double time into their own trap, while divisive the fault lines are not where they expect. Americans are growing in acceptance seemingly by the week.

No doubt it is beyond hurtful for one's civil rights to be a calculated strategy in a game but this is the terrain we have inherited. Wherever we go from here we have to deal with where we are at first. When the results of "winning" the game are so demonstrably better than "losing", the game becomes an important end to the beginning of a series of actual steps in the right direction.

The mass American perspective is turning quick. If we can maintain this momentum the world will be a better place for one and all. Your service and you marriages in a time of renewal versus a saving grace in the midst of decay.

[Ken Burch]

29. Still, there is the fact that LGBT people have been treated worse than anyone else in the party

Why should they be asked to wait until after everybody ELSE?

Why should they be at the back of the line?

LGBT people aren't THAT unpopular anymore.

[mitchtv]

32. Funny

I don't feel lucky. old adage: Talk is cheap

[cboy4]

26. Yup. Always drunk. You said it.

:eyes:

[cboy4]

25. Yes, because simply and easily repealing DADT is

just as gosh darn complicated as health care, economy, jobs and even etc. :sarcasm:

Please. Any idiot could get this done if there was the determination to do it now.

Government sanctioned work discrimination in the year 2009 is a disgrace.

[Aloha Spirit]

12. other

[stillcool]

13. executive order..

short and sweet..get it out of the way, then legislate. Although I have read that it takes more than an executive order, because Congress legislated it. So..I'm confused.

[ruggerson]

18. military legal experts have determined

that it's within his power to pen an executive order stopping the investigations.

This would effectively neuter the law, but not repeal it, something only Congress can do.

With the law unenforcable, they can then go about repealing it in Congress in a few months and he can then sign the repeal.

It'll be interesting to see if he tries this strategy.

[quakerboy]

22. I dont know about an executive order

But whoever has the job of dealing with that in the military, surely there are more important things they could be assigned to do. I assume there are those responsible for investigating these issues. Perhaps they could instead be set to investigating, say, any torture/abuse issues involving the military. Or, say, contractors in areas supposedly under military control. Or contract abuse.

That could nullify the immediate problem so that he could work on getting legislation moving through the system to provide a more permanent solution.

[jenmito]

14. i voted for Executive Order...

I just don't think he will do it that way, especially since he wrote the letter to the woman in the military who will be discharged in a week or so.

[whistler162]

15. Well Bush did set the precedent for it.....

don't like a law sign a executive order and by pass it.

Congress has to take this up, Obama can and should encourage Congress to take up repealing the law.

[Muttocracy]

16. Work with Rep. Sestak to get his DADT repeal bill passed ASAP. nt

[HopeOverFear]

20. Can't executive orders be reversed?

If so, what's the point? Obama signs an executive order ending DADT, then 4 or 8 years later,(or whenever) the next republican president signs ANOTHER executive order reversing the first one. What's the point??? why not make it a law that cannot be changed or reversed? Bush abused executive order privileges. Obama doesn't need to do the same. With an issue like that, it's too important, and he knows it, even if you think he doesn't.

[argonaut]

21. There are more important things to deal with at the moment, IMHO.

Let's face it. I'm no fan of DADT, but it's hardly the most pressing issue in the world right now.

[elshiva]

24. Get rid of it as soon as possible.

[Ken Burch]

28. If he can't lift the ban, he COULD issue an executive order barring the use of DOD funds to process

any DADT discharges.

He could also do an "essential position" exemption, which would allow him to bring back the cashiered Arabic translators that Bush forced out.

[Hippo_Tron]

30. Push for a repeal in Congress and frame it as a national security issue

Run ads calling every Republican who opposes the repeal weak on national security.

[mr1956]

31. I voted for the executive order

DADT is not working and its not fair. Government service should be free of all types of discrimination.