More than 800 service members could lose jobs under DOMA while Obama administration dithers

Dumb right-wing joke of the day: What special weapons do gay soldiers receive as standard equipment?

Answer: A Swish-Army Knife.

Can someone explain to me why the U.S. government needs a YEAR to STUDY the U.S. military's very stupid "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy when top officials of the U.S. government have already stated their beliefs that it is a dumb policy that never should have been implemented in the first place?

Members of the gay and gay supportive communities across the nation this week were heartened when President Obama, in his State of the Union address last week, called for an end to the 17-year-old policy that has cost an estimated 14,000 gay and lesbian American military personnel their jobs. However, their reaction was cautiously optimistic at best, considering the Obama administration in its first year pretty much adopted a policy of putting the interests of the gay and lesbian community --- which played a big part in helping elect Obama and increasing the Democrat majorities in Congress --- on the back burner.

And their caution has proven wise: This week, while not backing away from the announced plan to end "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," the administration's officials has proven once again that its primary modus operandi, at least toward the gay community, is well-intentioned dithering and delays.

Today, national news wires are reporting that U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said he wants Congress to repeal the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy by the end of the year. Great news, that on the surface reemphasizes Team Obama's apparent desire to make things right with a large voting group of Americans that has traditionally voted for the president's party.

HOWEVER ...

Gates also told the Senate Armed Services Committee that he has appointed a "high-level working group" to identify and solve potential issues surrounding the removal of the ban on gays and lesbians serving openly in the armed forces. And it's estimated that it will take a YEAR for the group to make its recommendations.

Why a year? Opponents of DADT are rightly asking that question. The policy was first imposed by a presidential order made by President Clinton in 1993 --- one of the first orders of his newly-installed administration. Doesn't President Obama have equal authority, as commander-in-chief of the military, to rescind that order?

The answer lies in four numbers which just happen to be the current year: 2010. This year is an election year. While the president himself is not up for re-election, all of the House of Representatives and a third of the U.S. Senate are. And since gay rights issues of any kind tend to be a hot button issue that the Republicans use to their advantage by fanning voter homophobia, it's going to be politically risky business to make this obviously needed change at this time.

Let's see, the president made his announcement on Jan. 20. And today, Feb. 2, Secretary Gates is saying that "a year" is needed to work out the kinks in DADT. That would mean that under the current timetable, there would be no effect on DADT until 2011 --- after the fall election. Is it possible that the delaying move is an attempt to mitigate voter fallout for the Democrats?

If the estimated figure of 14,000 people in the past year who have lost their military jobs because of DADT is true, that would mean that during the coming year --- while Obama, Gates and the "high-level working group" dither and stall the de-implementation of the homophobic policy --- there is still time for roughly 824 American gay and lesbian service members to lose their jobs. That's 824 people, all presumably without any other blemishes on their service records, who could be outed by a policy that most observers, regardless of political persuasion, agree is not working very well, and also having a great effect on all branches of military service during a time of war. Military recruitment has been down, down, down in recent years. The branches of the service cannot afford to lose service personnel who have done nothing wrong except be born gay or lesbian.

There can be no other reason for delaying the end of DADT other than politics. And stupid politics, at that. The people who are going to oppose the end of DADT will do so anyway, so there will be very little gained by delaying. And support for the Obama administration, after one year in office, has dwindled in no small part because of its neglect of a core group of supporters from the gay and lesbian community. One way to get the gay and lesbian public opinion poll numbers up could be a bold and quick move on repealing DADT.

In other words, delaying DADT means no gains and the people who are annoyed by the current administration will continue to be annoyed. Speeding up the removal of DADT means the possibility of regaining some political ground with people who are rapidly becoming disenchanted.

One reason Gates has stated for the delay and the need for the study by the "high-level working group" is that there are a number of issues surrounding an appeal, including questions such as what timeline would make the most sense and whether the Pentagon would begin offering benefits for gay and lesbian partners of military members.

This is all good, but it can still take place after the presidential order. The commander-in-chief can make an order any time he wants to and has plenty of bureaucratic underlings beneath him who can work out the details. That's the way it worked back in 1993, when President Clinton issued the order.

One of the most clinging criticisms of President Obama in the past year is his tendency to call for consensus, to bring as many people into the decision-making process as possible. This amounts to tossing one bone out for all the dogs in a neighborhood to fight over. It just creates chaos. Sometimes consensus is good --- and sometimes a president needs to be presidential and lead.

Defense Secretary Gates says military officials will report back to him in 45 days on ways to relax the policy within the existing law. What are they going to report? What are they going to recommend? That all U.S. military bases will have to build news special shower stalls --- some for the lesbians and some for the gays, so all the straights won't have to worry about being seen naked by openly queer military personnel? That goes back to the discredited presumptions of the mid-20th century that all homosexual people are sexual predators.

U.S. Sen. Carl Levin, D-Michigan, who chairs the senate Armed Services committee said he supports the change.

"I agree with what President Obama said in his State of the Union address," Levin was quoted as saying. "The American public overwhelmingly supports the rights of gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military."

Levin and other lawmakers haven't laid out any specific plans for outright repeal of the law, but he did say it was possible a moratorium on the policy could be added to the National Defense Authorization spending bill before Congress.

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, usually the ultimate pragmatist, is on record as saying that a delay in doing away with DADT is unnecessary and that it should be done "now."

"I don't see why we would need a year," Reid said.

U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., whose wife Cindy and daughter Megan are both active supporters of gay rights issues, is an opponent of the repeal. McCain said at the hearing that he was disappointed by Gates' plans to begin planning for the repeal, and indicated he intends to oppose any Congressional move to change the policy. He and other Republicans on the committee cited a letter signed by more than 1,000 former military officials -- dubbed the Flag & General Officers of the Military -- who called for the policy to remain in effect, citing concerns over "morale, discipline, unit cohesion and overall military readiness."

While McCain is a decorated hero of the Vietnam war and is usually deferred to because of his war record, his judgment has not always been flawless. When he ran for president against Obama in 2008, his first decision as a candidate --- to select former Alaska governor Sarah Palin, an inexperienced social conservative whose main appeal was to the extremist fringe of the Republican party and not to more independent voters, as his running mate --- proved to be one of the main reasons he was defeated: He is not in touch with the majority of Americans. McCain would be better off touching base with his wife and daughter on issues relating to gay people and civil rights.

Supporters of the repeal questioned the need for such a long timetable before making the reversal official, according to a news report filed by Nathan Hurst of the Detroit News' Washington Bureau.

"We strongly applaud (Secretary) Gates supporting the President's view that (Don't Ask, Don't Tell) needs to go," said Aubrey Sarvis, executive director of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network. "It's a matter of when and how, he said, not if."

The "when" should be immediately and not a year from now. We need the gay and lesbian service members currently serving their country honorably.