Don't get me wrong, I've always been very glad about that, but today just drove home the point that no matter how much President Obama has been dragging his feet, things would have been far worse if McCain were in the Oval Office.
The Senator from Arizona had a letter signed by 1,000 retired officers and generals (i.e. people out of touch with today's military, much like McCain) who do not support repealing the ban on gays in the military. McCain actually referred to the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy as 'effective'.
The true highlight of the hearing was the surprising testimony of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen:
"Mr. Chairman, speaking for myself and myself only, it is my personal and professional belief that allowing homosexuals to serve openly would be the right thing to do. No matter how I look at the issue, I cannot escape being troubled by the fact that we have in place a policy which forces young men and women to lie about who they are in order to defend their fellow citizens. For me, it comes down to integrity -- theirs as individuals and ours as an institution. I also believe the great young men and women of our military can and would accommodate such a change. I never underestimate their ability to adapt. That there will be some disruption in the force I cannot deny. That there will be legal, social and perhaps even infrastructure changes to be made certainly seem plausible. We would all like to have a better handle on these types of concerns. And that is what our review will offer."
This is the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, remember! Back in 1993, the Joint Chiefs were all very opposed to repealing the ban on gays serving, which of course lead to the 'compromise' we've had to live with ever since. I think it's pretty amazing that Admiral Mullen spoke out the way he did today.
The bottom line, of course, is that the Secretary of Defense and Admiral Mullen announced a year long study on how to end the policy. Now, taking a year to study this is ridiculous and Gates also stated that it could take up to a year to implement it after the study is finished, which means that we're probably still two whole years away from LGBT citizens being allowed to serve openly.
The only real upside to this was that Gates specifically stated that the study is not on whether or not to end the policy, but on HOW to end it.
Gates also said that in the next 45 days he'll be recommending changes within the existing Don't Ask, Don't Tell law to make sure it is more fairly enforced.
Given that it has already been stated that the law is unfair and needs to go, shouldn't they be ceasing to enforce it altogether while they do this year long study followed by a year long implementation? Why bother to 'more fairly' enforce something that is admittedly unfair in and of itself?
The truth of the matter is that President Obama could effectively end this policy today if he wanted to. As Congressman Joe Sestak pointed out after the hearing, the President could sign a stop-loss order halting any discharges under Don't Ask, Don't Tell. In fact, he could have done that the day he took office.
The Republicans seem to be jumping on the 'We can't afford to change the policy while fighting two wars' bandwagon (because anything that increases the ability of people to serve hurts the military in wartime?!), and Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama even implied that Admiral Mullen was influencing the outcome of the study by stating his own opinion. I loved Mullen's reply:
The bottom line, of course, is that the Secretary of Defense and Admiral Mullen announced a year long study on how to end the policy. Now, taking a year to study this is ridiculous and Gates also stated that it could take up to a year to implement it after the study is finished, which means that we're probably still two whole years away from LGBT citizens being allowed to serve openly.
The only real upside to this was that Gates specifically stated that the study is not on whether or not to end the policy, but on HOW to end it.
Gates also said that in the next 45 days he'll be recommending changes within the existing Don't Ask, Don't Tell law to make sure it is more fairly enforced.
Given that it has already been stated that the law is unfair and needs to go, shouldn't they be ceasing to enforce it altogether while they do this year long study followed by a year long implementation? Why bother to 'more fairly' enforce something that is admittedly unfair in and of itself?
The truth of the matter is that President Obama could effectively end this policy today if he wanted to. As Congressman Joe Sestak pointed out after the hearing, the President could sign a stop-loss order halting any discharges under Don't Ask, Don't Tell. In fact, he could have done that the day he took office.
The Republicans seem to be jumping on the 'We can't afford to change the policy while fighting two wars' bandwagon (because anything that increases the ability of people to serve hurts the military in wartime?!), and Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama even implied that Admiral Mullen was influencing the outcome of the study by stating his own opinion. I loved Mullen's reply:
"This is about leadership, and I take that very, very seriously."
Putting leadership above politics, what a novel idea!
For more details on all of this, check out David Dayen's assessment of the hearing or watch the hearing itself.
Putting leadership above politics, what a novel idea!
For more details on all of this, check out David Dayen's assessment of the hearing or watch the hearing itself.
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