Posted on 02/01/2009 5:51:25 AM PST by Zakeet
The Obama administration is telling the Pentagon and gay-rights advocates that it will have to study the implications for national security and enlist more support in Congress before trying to overturn the so-called "don't ask, don't tell" law and allow gays to serve openly in the military, according to people involved in the discussions.
They said Obama, who pledged during the campaign to overturn the law, does not want to ask lawmakers to do so until the military has completed a comprehensive assessment of the impact that such a move would have on military discipline. Then, the president hopes to be able to make a case to members of both parties that overturning the 1993 law would be in the best interest of national security.
Obama is hoping to avoid the missteps of the Clinton administration when it tried to open the ranks to gays and lesbians, only to be confronted by fierce resistance from lawmakers and commanders. Early in his presidency, Bill Clinton signed an order allowing gays to serve but was forced to back off. A compromise made it illegal for gays to serve openly, but also restricted investigations into service members' sexual behavior.
"The Clinton experience makes a lot of folks [in the administration] apprehensive," said Aubrey Sarvis, executive director of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Fund, which represents gay military personnel discharged under the current policy. Sarvis, an Army veteran who served in Vietnam, recently met with Obama advisers on the subject.
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
Also according to Mr. Bender, Nathaniel Frank, a researcher at the Palm Center, a think tank at the University of California, Santa Barbara that has studied the issue, warned that waiting too long could jeopardize the entire effort: "A delay could let opposition fester and build."
It worked out so well putting sexual perverts in charge of the prisoners at Abu Ghraib I’m just sure Obama wants more of that.
Like Lincoln, Obama arrived at his Inauguration from Chicago by train. Baggage handlers used a hydraulic lift to heft his political baggage.
Michelle determined that the Bushes will never be invited to the White House to stay overnight in the Kunte Kinte Bedroom. These Obombas are inordinately stuck-up and believe themselves to be royalty.
See a pattern here. Make a decision and then back off. That wi what you get when you vote for a president with absolutely NO experience. Obama has run NOTHING but his mouth.
He’ll get around to it...it’s a given.
I personally don't see how they can defend their vote for him now themselves.
“Also according to Mr. Bender, Nathaniel Frank, a researcher at the Palm Center, a think tank at the University of California, Santa Barbara that has studied the issue, warned that waiting too long could jeopardize the entire effort: “A delay could let opposition fester and build.” “
As well it should!
NEGATIVE (common sense)!
If he polls the military (which he won’t) he will find out an overwhelming majority are against gays serving openly. It would cause way too much internal strife and discipline problems. Most every male soldier I’ve asked said they would not share a room with a gay man. And most female soldiers wouldn’t want to share a room with a gay man.
I am lucky. I am married and I can retire any time I want now. I’ve just got to fill in the dates on the paperwork and turn it in.
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