Huffington: POTUS is playing dumb on DADT

It's frustrating, Mr. President. You have told us repeatedly to be impatient, to hold you accountable, to pressure you, and to not wait for our rights. Yet, when you were pressured last night to repeal Don't Ask Don't Tell, you played dumb.

You responded to the shout from the audience:

When ... you've got an ally like me who standing for the same thing, then you don't know exactly why you've got to holler, because I already hear you, alright? I mean, it would have made more sense to holler that at the people who oppose it.

One of the basic principles of direct action protest is to target those who hold the power to create the change you seek. Why would you tell us to yell at Republicans? They haven't voted for anything since you became President and they're not about to start.

YOU HOLD THE POWER. You can insert language in the Defense Authorization bill that would repeal Don't Ask Don't Tell. Everyone agrees this is the most likely way to repeal this discriminatory law. You know this, and one of the protesters last night made it clear to you by repeatedly yelling "Insert the language! Insert the language!".

Why play dumb on this? Is it because your Administration has already decided that you won't insert repeal language into Defense Authorization?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lane-hudson/potus-plays-dumb-on-dadt_b_544290.html

We're worried that if this doesn't get done this session, the votes won't be there in the next.
We're worried that the same forces that caused trouble with the health insurance reform will be there for DADT.
We're worried that DADT repeal will go the way of the public option, cadillac taxes, and mandates.

He may hear us, but I'm not sure he understands.

primary that everyone saw as hers knows exactly what the politics of this is and the implications are. And has decided that it's worth the sacrifice for some other goal.

We're queer, it's how we get treated in politics - it's not like any of us don't recognize it, it's gotten way too familiar

But, as we saw in health insurance reform, I was pretty sure he didn't understand alot of others point of view. The number of times he was "surprised" by various reactions on the left and right was astounding. And he never expected either it taking until March of 2010 to accomplish, nor the possibility of losing his 60 seat "majority" before it passed. The latter, in another form, is in danger of happening again.

Happy Spring! :)

A president, any president, playing dumb is not a good sign.

:kick:

Especially when "dumb" plays to both sides of the stage

That kind of thinking really bothers me. It's not like I didn't know she was gay, but when she said "I have something to tell you", and told me she was gay, I responded with "What a relief, I was afraid you were going to tell me you dropped out of school". I couldn't see myself (not in a million fucking years) telling her "Don't worry honey, I'm okay with it, but the country isn't, so keep it to yourself for maybe a few more years and we'll see what happens".

Not in a million fucking years.

Thank you for being such a wonderful parent.

Plain and simple. The Obama Administration could ask the party to add an amendment to ANY BILL that would repeal DADT if that bill passes. Have they? Nnnnnnope.

Lip service, nothing more. Fierce Advocate for LGBT rights? Fuck me that's funny.

no matter what the issue was. The people have always had to push it down the throats of politicians (with the exception of the few office holders who have spines and principles - a group that seems to get smaller with each election).

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else matters other than the public perception of how it's proceeding. Many are here for no other reason than to refute any criticism that may be directed his way.

No matter what he does or doesn't do, it's something that was widely expected before he was elected. We're told we should have known what he'd do after being elected. It's as if he NEVER SAID he'd be a "fierce advocate" for LGBT rights during the campaign.

I cannot believe that a "Fierce Advocate" for LGBT rights would gamble those rights on being elected to a second term, thereby relegating them to second or third tier status in his first. I would have thought that a BLACK president would see human and civil rights issues as PRIORITY ONE.

I won't get fooled again.

I won't be fooled again, either.

time-wise to either proceed, move upon, reconsider, pause, become active/proactive/canvas door-to-door/grab a mic and sing the song, etc, or remain as still & calm as a placid mountain lake. Which is not an invalid recommendation in certain cases. In this case however, if only for your daughter to recalibrate the intention of her adversary, and do not think that they are not out there - they are often the froggy ones that jump first and think later

And so I applaud your daughter's pro-action with respect to finding, for herself and all on her own; an optimal moment in time in which to declare - what a joy in life it must be that she has a father willing to accept her as herself. But its less than understanding to assert that unless or until people look into your recently out teenage daughter's eyes that they have no "skin in the game". That's the sort of thing the parents of recently out teenagers say when they have, in a very real sense, just gotten on the bus along with people that have not only "skin" in the game but blood, sweat & tears - their clock, in another very real sense, just started ticking and so a million fucking years will be a long fucking time from now, as well...

Replies such as 'MLK' '+1 brazillion' 'When IS the right time?', etc, are, actually, unknowing assertions for the most part; that they such as Rosa Parks should have gone to the front of the bus years prior-years prior and not when she did - clearly that moment in time in which she did so was balanced as calibrated - so the notion that such considerations do not exist is a form of folly

My hope is that America will find a way to move beyond such folly 'Especially when "dumb" plays to both sides of the stage'

gain their civil rights..........

:sarcasm:

MLK wrote an entire letter from jail on this subject. The explanation is always "it's not the time". His basic response is, how long does one wait for their civil rights?

"We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. Frankly, I have yet to engage in a direct-action campaign that was "well timed" in the view of those who have not suffered unduly from the disease of segregation. For years now I have heard the word "Wait!" It rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing familiarity. This "Wait" has almost always meant "Never." We must come to see, with one of our distinguished jurists, that "justice too long delayed is justice denied."

...

"I had also hoped that the white moderate would reject the myth concerning time in relation to the struggle for freedom. I have just received a letter from a white brother in Texas. He writes: "All Christians know that the colored people will receive equal rights eventually, but it is possible that you are in too great a religious hurry. It has taken Christianity almost two thousand years to accomplish what it has. The teachings of Christ take time to come to earth." Such an attitude stems from a tragic misconception of time, from the strangely rational notion that there is something in the very flow of time that will inevitably cure all ills. Actually, time itself is neutral; it can be used either destructively or constructively. More and more I feel that the people of ill will have used time much more effectively than have the people of good will. We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people. Human progress never rolls in on wheels of inevitability; it comes through the tireless efforts of men willing to be co-workers with God, and without this 'hard work, time itself becomes an ally of the forces of social stagnation. We must use time creatively, in the knowledge that the time is always ripe to do right. Now is the time to make real the promise of democracy and transform our pending national elegy into a creative psalm of brotherhood. Now is the time to lift our national policy from the quicksand of racial injustice to the solid rock of human dignity."

We are talking EQUAL RIGHTS. How can it not be time for equal rights? Please elaborate.

and you're an enabler of injustice.

And he's making progress there.

The military is under civilian control. There's a reason for that. Barack Obama is the Commander in Chief AND a civilian. Congress is comprised of civilians. The military is COMPELLED to do whatever they're ordered to do by CIVILIANS.

Who the fuck cares whether or not they agree?

Building support in the military to repeal DADT... what a laugher that is.

don't really have a leg to stand on, do they?

huffington.. not ASSumptions

Or not...

- after he listened to those who had been hurt by his vote. He would not have voted that way again.

Apparently his regret was believed as the Stonewall DFL did endorse him in 2002 and assisted in creating the Wellstone Public Service Scholarship.

The DOMA vote came while he was running for reelection in 1996 and it has been speculated that his regrets over that vote may have been what helped him make the decision to risk his reelection and vote agains the IWR in 2002. *All the advice he was getting was that he'd be giving the election to Normie if he voted no - though he actually took a bounce up in the polls after it.)

As usual! Thanks for all you do to 'fight the good fight'. I'm going to have to sign off in a few - before I lose my mind.
Hell, it might already be too late...:)

I wonder if he even counts a gay person among his personal friends.