Jonathan is a smart guy. I've known him for years, and I like him. They don't you give you Pulitzers for being a dummy. But this simply is not the way politics works in Washington, DC - that you can get things done on the Hill when the President of your same party isn't helping, and in fact is hindering your efforts.
First, Jonathan:
The gay community won't like the implications. But it bears repeating that getting rid of don't ask don't tell was never going to be easy. It was never going to be as simple as Obama telling lawmakers what he wants done and how to do it.
Ending don't ask don't tell ranks up there as "another controversial issue." It's a controversial social issue whose politics requires the precision of a drill team. Hence, the careful orchestration of the hearings where Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, declared their support for ending the ban. Hence, the study to figure out what to do once Congress takes action. But there's understandable concern that Obama is the one who doesn't have the appetite to push Capitol Hill harder to take it on by including the repeal in the must-pass defense authorization bill.A few problems. First, I'm not sure who Jonathan is talking about when he suggests that those who are concerned about the President's MIA status on DADT this year think that legislating is "easy," or that we think the President has a magic wand to get things done. It's a common straw man put out by the White House and their surrogates, that anyone who expects them to keep their promises is politically naive. Well, I've worked in national politics for twenty years and I've personally written legislation and gotten it passed in Congress. So I think I'm familiar with how the sausage-making works. And it doesn't work when the President exudes weakness, or worse, undercuts his own party. And that is exactly what's happening right now.
Look, as Obama said, "[I]t's a matter of political will." And the best way to get Congress -- and the White House -- to find it on don't ask don't tell is to ramp up the more sophisticated action that has begun. Chaining yourself to the gates at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue or yelling at the president is a little predictable. What's needed are more actions like that taken by the Phoenix Five (Meg Sneed, Jimmy Gruender, Lee Walters, (Lonnie) Allen Howard-Stidham and Luisa Valdez) who were arrested Monday for refusing to leave Sen. John McCain's (R-Ariz.) district office after they were denied a meeting with him to discuss his stance on don't ask don't tell.
Now, just imagine that happening at the district offices of the members of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees.
Members of Congress are unlikely to support legislation when the President of their own party is actively working against them, which is exactly what we now know President Obama to be doing on DADT. He doesn't want a vote this year, even though he promised in his State of the Union to repeal the ban this year. With both the President and the Pentagon signaling "don't do it" to Congress, it is unlikely that Congress is going to just do it, no matter how hard we lobby or how many sit-ins we have.
Second, it's unclear why Jonathan is so uncomfortable with civil disobedience directed at the President, yet believes it will work when directed against a member of Congress. What's the difference? The White House does not like the PR spectacle of US servicemembers handcuffed to the White House gates while they denounce the first African-American president's lack of support for civil rights. It's embarrassing. And embarrassment is often the grease of politics. That doesn't mean that activists shouldn't be protesting the Hill as well - and they are (including sit-ins in Nancy Pelosi's office, and disrupting a committee hearing). But to suggest that protesting the President in a way that's highly embarrassing for him doesn't have any effect... again, it's just flat out wrong.
The White House would like nothing better than for the gays to stop the weekly embarrassment that has become our community's protests in front of the house of the man who promised to be our fierce advocate. And that's exactly why the protests must continue. If President Obama isn't going to keep his promises to our community, then he should pay a political price, just like any other politician. Of course, we were told that Barack Obama wasn't just any other politician....
And one final point. Jonathan keeps failing to mention one crucial detail - namely, that the current plan of waiting to vote on repeal until at least next year means waiting until after the fall congressional elections. That matters because Democrats are predicted to lose a slew of seats, possibly even losing control of the House. It is going to be much harder, if not impossible, to get anything pro-gay done next year, or for years after, if we wait. You don't ever hear the White House or their surrogates talking about the inconvenient truth that their strategy is set up to fail.
PS The public supports repeal at around 70% in nearly every poll, Republicans support repeal at around 60%, and even 70% of Teabaggers support repeal. DADT is only "controversial" in the minds of Democrats in Washington who still think it's 1993. That's yet another White House talking point intended to make this effort fail. It would be nice if Jim Messina and the rest of the administration spent this much effort trying to pass the President's promises, rather than undermining them. Read More...
