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Obama To Delay Repeal Of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell At Least A Year

by Doug Mataconis @ 2:59 pm on November 21, 2008.

While this is bound to disappoint some of his supporters, I think Obama is making a politically smart move here:

President-elect Barack Obama will not move for months, and perhaps not until 2010, to ask Congress to end the military’s decades-old ban on open homosexuals in the ranks, two people who have advised the Obama transition team on this issue say.

Repealing the ban was an Obama campaign promise. However, Mr. Obama first wants to confer with the Joint Chiefs of Staff and his new political appointees at the Pentagon to reach a consensus and then present legislation to Congress, the advisers said.

“I think 2009 is about foundation building and reaching consensus,” said Aubrey Sarvis, executive director of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network. The group supports military personnel targeted under the ban.

Mr. Sarvis told The Washington Times that he has held “informal discussions” with the Obama transition team on how the new president should proceed on the potentially explosive issue.

While I agree that the policy should be repealed, Obama’s advisers no doubt remember what happened the last time this issue came up:

Shortly after taking office in 1993, [President Clinton] ordered the Pentagon to rescind the regulation that excluded gays.

On Capitol Hill, Republicans, and some leading Democrats, including then-Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Sam Nunn of Georgia, objected. Retired military officers and a number of pro-military conservative activist groups joined the fight.

Mr. Clinton backed off. Congress ended up enacting the ban into law as part of U.S. Title 10 which regulates the military.

As a compromise, the White House and congressional leaders wrote a new policy known as “don’t ask, don’t tell.” Under it, gay service members must keep their sexuality private or face expulsion. About 12,500 people have been discharged under the policy.

It was a stunning political defeat for the Clinton Administration, and, along with the many Nanny-gate scandals associated with more than one proposed Cabinet member, served to reinforce the perception in the early months of the Administration that the people in the West Wing had no idea what they were doing.

While I think it’s fairly clear that public sentiment on this issue is not what it was back in 1993, Obama is smart to do this slowly rather than going in with all guns blazing.

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2 Responses to “Obama To Delay Repeal Of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell At Least A Year”

  1. KipEsquire Says:
    November 21st, 2008 at 3:27 pm

    WaTimes is wrong: Repealing DADT was NEVER an Obama campaign promise. Obama only said that he thought the ban was counterproductive and expensive, and that he would “study the issue” in consultation with the generals.

  2. Below The Beltway » Blog Archive » Obama Never Promised To Repeal Don’t Ask Don’t Tell Says:
    November 21st, 2008 at 5:10 pm

    [...] the article I wrote about earlier today, the Washington Times characterized the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell as an Obama [...]

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