Charles Krauthammer: Obama’s New Start - Republicans no longer have the wind at their backs.

Riding the lamest of ducks, President Obama just won the Triple Crown. He fulfilled (1) his most important economic priority, passage of Stimulus II, a.k.a. the tax-cut deal (the perfect pre-reelection fiscal sugar high — the piper gets paid in 2013 and beyond); (2) his most important social-policy objective, repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell”; and (3) his most cherished (achievable) foreign-policy goal, ratification of the New START treaty with Russia.

Politically, these are all synergistic. The bipartisan nature of the tax deal instantly repositioned Obama back to the center. And just when conventional wisdom decided the deal had caused irreparable alienation from his liberal base, Obama almost immediately won it back — by delivering one of the gay-rights movement’s most elusive and coveted breakthroughs.

The symbolism of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” repeal cannot be underestimated. It’s not just that for the civil-rights community, it represents a long-awaited extension of the historic arc — first blacks, then women, now gays. It was also Obama decisively transcending the triangulated trimming of Bill Clinton, who instituted “don’t ask, don’t tell” in the first place. Even more subtly and understatedly, the repeal represents the taming of the most conservative of the nation’s institutions, the military, by a movement historically among the most avant-garde. Whatever your views, that is a cultural landmark...

I did four years active at sea and 11 years USNR. Gays openly flaunting their crap on a ship ain't going to work.

All more hyperbole on your part. The repeal of DA/DT is definitely a negative, but you don't accomplish anything with all this hyperbole. No one will be allowed "to flaunt their crap on a ship", gay or straight. The problems will be less subtle than that, and as I've said if this change causes problems with recruitment and retention of personnel, then that's when it will really be scrutinized again.

The military will resist quietly but that won’t accomplish much in the face of the judicial onslaught that is unleashed by this act. All it will take for the military to hit the wall is for a homosexuals to get into positions where they can influence acceptance of candidates to the academies. The Catholic Church saw what comes of that when homosexuals bit by bit got into such positions in the seminaries. Such progression is inevitable in the normal course of promotion and assignment. Once in such positions the harm they do cannot be undone without total return tothe homosexual ban in the military. The Church can see the damage and turn things around and did. The military cannot. In things political there is only one direction.Progression can be slowed but the direction cannot be changed short of outside conquest or collapse and civil war. No matter how bad the situation becomes such “solutions” wiould be far worse.

Apparently, to some you and I are just being "hyperbolic". Some here, can handle the ugly horrific truth of what just happened some are clueless.

Never heard of a two year sea rotation, what happened?

Lol, then you've just shown how limited your knowledge of the USN and the USNR and the enlistment alternatives of the past is. It was a USNR enlistment for six years total with two years active, very common in the 1960s and 1970s, and maybe after that,and pre-DA/DT. There, you learned something.

t was a USNR enlistment for six years total with two years active, very common in the 1960s and 1970s, and maybe after that,and pre-DA/DT. There, you learned something.

I was the sonar officer and the enlisted guys went to so many schools before coming to the ship most were e-4s and had 6 year enlistments to start off if you can believe that.

It’s true what they say about Republicans snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. All they had to do was ride out the lame duck session and take control in January, but they were too spineless to do it. Instead, they gave the Democrats and the media the opportunity to claim that Obama is back as the second coming of Bill Clinton. They will now stay 2011 in a weaker position than they needed to be in. senate republicans should all be tossed out, or they’ll quickly bring us back to 2006.

Is that really ticking off the tea partiers in Maine?

Long before the general election it was well known that LePage was unlikely to go against Snowe, their connections were known. I like LePage, contributed to him before the Primary, but am not ticked off that he’s not going to try to defeat Snowe. If he stays out of it, I’d be pleased.

In those six year reserve programs with two years active, the enlisted attended monthly drills for a year, and also attended a two week boot camp and a two week additional training, and went on active duty roughly one year after enlisting. If they went to further technical schools, they did that on active duty, and some of the longer schools required that their active duty be extended beyond two years.

Those programs were available during the Vietnam era and into the ‘70s. I’m not sure how long they continued.

I contributed to Paul too, before and after the primary, and I think he’ll be a very good governor. Everyone knew about the Snowe family connection and he often spoke of it but always in terms of Peter Snowe’s contribution to his life. After the election he made a statement in terms of (as I read/remember it) active support for Olympia and the tired old “she’s the best we’ll get.” I no longer have the statement so if I’m wrong, please correct me. I have spoken to a few folks who very actively supported him and they are not too happy.

Not true I am afraid, once repealed if there are not very strict laws inserted in the UCMJ, we will see a more gays in the military, a repeal of DOMA after the first gay lawsuit followed by a Transgender lawsuit. Have you seen anything from the radical gay crowd to make you think otherwise? They could care less about this country and its military it is about normalization of a sex act only. There is no evidence the the SCOTUS would not rule the military has a right to set its own standards. It has in the past. The judiciary is an excuse to rush this by Gates and Mullens. They have betrayed the trust of the average Sailor, Marine, Airman and Soldier. Yes, they want to control the process, but they are both leaving, they are also well aware they cannot write appropriate regulations for years. They will create new regulations as incidents arise and then force sensitivity on the service members. I served for over 30 years, I have watched numerous social experiments, do not fool yourself there are numerous problems, they are just not made public.

Two weeks of hoopla and self congratulating does not make Obama the come back kid!
In the first week of January, the Congress that We The People put in office will take their seats. They will be under our microscope, and if they stray one digit off course, their phones and e-mails will have a melt down.
The first job of our new Congress should be to emphasize that it was the Democrats who gained the Congressional majority in 2006 and the White House in 2008 who steadily destroyed our economy and our stature in the world. It is up to the Republicans to raise that point each and every time they are interviewed on radio, TV or News Paper. They should bring it up on the House and Senate Floor each time they get up to support one of their Conservative bills. They should also not be shy of calling out the RINO’s who helped the Democrats screw up things.
On Alexander and Corker... I live in Tennessee and my friends and I gave their offices an ear full, telling them that they embarrassed the great State of Tennessee and the Tennessee Republican party (not to mention the people who voted them in office) in front of the whole Country, and added that they may as well be prepared to lose their seats in 2012 for Corker and 2014 for Alexander, because we don’t need no stinking RINOS as our Senators.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.