Obama bends to hardliners on gays in military [View All]

[WillParkinson]

Obama bends to hardliners on gays in military

(Washington) If President Barack Obama’s campaign promises made military leaders jittery, his five months on the job have calmed their nerves.

From his first days in office, Obama has been siding with the brass over the desires of some of his political constituency on the left. The latest examples: back-to-back moves this month to revive military trials for some prisoners at Guantanamo Bay and to fight release of potentially incendiary pictures of prisoners allegedly roughed up by U.S. soldiers.

Earlier, Obama decided to slow his promised withdrawal of combat troops from Iraq. And now he’s going along with his top military advisers with a go-slow approach to repealing the ban on gays serving openly in the armed forces.

Spokesmen at the White House and Pentagon have been at pains to say Obama is committed to repeal. But a senior military official said Friday there is no timeline.

Buying time serves both the Pentagon’s desire for caution and Obama’s desire not to pick an unnecessary fight. Former President Bill Clinton never fully recovered from his miscues over the gays in the military issue.

http://www.365gay.com/news/obama-bends-to-hardliners-on-gays-in-military/