"DADT repeal on schedule -- Obama's schedule"

[Pirate Smile]

Posted at Ezra Klein's blog:

DADT repeal on schedule -- Obama's schedule
By Jonathan Bernstein

Via Andrew Sullivan, Brian Beutler over at TPM reports that according to Sen. Carl Levin, the Obama administration "got religion on the issue 'in the last few days.' " Sullivan wonders: "Why did Obama change his tune?"

Well, perhaps, but I think the person who nailed this repeatedly last year (for example here) was Mark Kleiman. As he's argued, Obama has followed a slow but steady path, with the key step of getting the military brass solidly on board before throwing it into the publicity glare of congressional action. Kleiman has bet all along that repeal would happen this year, and while the measure will still have to actually have the votes, things look pretty good for repeal as of now.

As far as what changed, that seems fairly obvious to me: The plan for some time has been to add DADT repeal as a rider to the defense appropriations bill. What's changed is the calendar, pure and simple. It's time for approps mark-ups, and so it was time to work the next step out.

This is, of course, typical of the way that Barack Obama goes about business: light on the bluster, don't worry about the ephemeral news cycle, stick to long-term plans. Now, it's also true, reportedly, that activists have been pushing hard on this issue. But that's one of the advantages of the long-term strategy! By keeping a low public profile on issues that were not yet ripe -- by which I mean ready for actual meaningful action, such as a mark-up or a floor vote, not in the more abstract sense -- Obama is able to see which issues really do have constituencies who care, one way or another. Perhaps if advocates of repeal had put most of their energy into other issues, and perhaps if outcry among pro-ban groups had been louder, Obama might have changed course. But it seems to me pretty obvious that repeal has been his intended course from the beginning.


-- Jonathan Bernstein blogs about American politics, political institutions and democracy at A Plain Blog About Politics, and you can follow him on Twitter here.


http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2010/05/dadt_repeal_on_schedule_--_oba.html

[mzteris]

1. Chess, anyone? n/t

[Unvanguard]

2. That's nonsense. This took him by surprise, he barely recovered at the last moment.

The "compromise" could have been done months ago if he had wanted it.

[Cha]

6. No, it's not nonsense..this is how it gets done.

[Unvanguard]

16. Yes, it "is how it gets done"--in this case, without his help. n/t

[Cha]

22. Sorry, but the President has been very instrumental in this.

Building a solid foundation for it..thankfully it is going to get done.

[Unvanguard]

24. You are conflating things. He got Gates and Mullen, but he did not bring about this. n/t

[Cha]

26. You can try and take away from the President but the facts

remain.

[Teka]

31. Bullshit

Obama is being drug kicking and screaming.

[Cha]

32. Bullshit yourself.

[impik]

8. Clearly, you still don't "get" Barack Obama and probably never will

But that's okay. Eventually, his presidency will make even your life better.

[Unvanguard]

17. Actually, I think I get Barack Obama very well.

And I've defended him repeatedly and extensively on these forums.

The explanation presented stretches plausibility beyond belief, to anyone who was paying attention to the White House's silence, and then discouragement, as Levin and Murphy and the others tried to figure out what to do. This final arrangement at the last minute came about without their initiative and without their help, and even now they're saying that it isn't "ideal." To give him credit for this is the result of the same kind of Obama-as-omnipotent reasoning that makes people unfairly blame him for so many other things.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

15. Because months are really vital when the results will last at least for years, if not forever. (nt)

[Unvanguard]

19. It's vital for the people who will be discharged in the mean time.

In any case, the problem is that, had the Obama timeline been followed and repeal delayed until after the military review, due to the midterm elections repeal would quite possibly be delayed for another two years at least. Congress had to act sooner, and there was no movement on the part of the Administration to make that happen.

[Radical Activist]

20. That's a stretch. The Obama timeline was always this year.

Obama gave the Pentagon a deadline of finishing a study this year. Congress is acting this year, and if doesn't, this Congress could still act after the mid-tem election in a lame duck session IF the elections go badly. Obama's time line, and this latest action, indicate that he wasn't going to let it die.

Is there something to be gained by giving Obama absolutely no credit for sticking to a commitment he campaigned on?

[Unvanguard]

21. That's true, the Pentagon study was supposed to be completed by December.

Let's assume that worked out fine. After what we've been through this past year and a half, do you really think Congress would have acted swiftly enough to do this before January? With likely Republican obstruction and probably still some reluctance on the part of conservative Democrats? And with all the political rhetoric about "respecting democracy" and so forth? Especially with the Christmas recess, they would have had a few weeks at best, and undoubtedly would have been busy with other things.

It was not something to rely on. Something to be hoped for, sure, but that is different. This way is better, but it was--not quite forced on, but certainly very far from instigated by, Obama.

Edit: As for your last sentence, I'll give him credit for Gates and Mullen at the hearings, for sparking this effort, but it has been the work of others that has brought it to this point, and if it succeeds they will deserve the credit for getting it through Congress.

[HughMoran]

3. As long as it happens

...that's the bottom line.

[Jennicut]

4. The only question is, do Dems have the votes?

Webb is voting no.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

12. It's an appropriations bill, so they probably will.

That's why it isn't stand-alone legislation.

[Unvanguard]

33. Collins and Snowe are voting yes.

So it still comes out to sixty, even if all the other Republicans mount a filibuster of the defense appropriations bill, and Webb joins them.

Byrd is a worry, though.

[Cha]

5. That's Obama's style..get the solid foundation

and then get it done.

Not a surprise for those who know how he works.

[AtomicKitten]

23. Yes indeed. nt

[Enrique]

7. like the public option

just wait, Obama really wants it!

[Radical Activist]

10. That's why states are allowed to set up a single-payer system.

A few states do it, people learn about it, get used to the idea, support grows and then it goes national. The groundwork is laid.

Or we can shove everything down people's throats Great Society style and wait for the Reagan backlash.

[cilla4progress]

11. This is interesting --

I like the way you lay it out. You could very well be right. For a nation of instant gratification junkies, it's kinda hard to take that long view. (Vis: see my signature line).

Thanks for the illumination!

[Tarheel_Dem]

27. Rad...I like your style. The old addage that "patience is a virtue" has

been chucked down the rabbit hole. I'm never really sure what hoops the progressive movement wants this president to jump through next, to prove that he's on our side? Does any true progressive think that things were better under Bush, or that they'll be better under the next Repuke administration? I'm flummoxed, I admit I don't know what we want as progressives.

[Radical Activist]

9. This isn't the only issue Obama has handled this way and gotten results we want.

I've tried to point it out on several DADT threads and usually get accused of not supporting repeal. I can understand why people don't like the delay of doing things a certain way, but the alarm bells accusing Obama of backing down on the issue were bogus.

[Jennicut]

13. If Obama is the first President to get gays to be able to serve

openly in the military, I could care less HOW it is done. I just want it done.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

14. You're absolutely right. (nt)

[uponit7771]

34. FUCK FACTS!!!!!! /sarcasm

[Pisces]

18. DU is like our society at large - INSTANT GRATIFICATION OR NOTHING. The actual job

of governing is a long hard slog that most on this board would not be able to stomach or tolerate. Obama is getting things done despite all of his detractors. He keeps his eye on the prize. I admire it, because his patience is something I will never have in my daily life. It is his greatest strength and his greatest perceived weakness.

[Tarheel_Dem]

28. "INSTANT GRATIFICATION OR NOTHING"

"patience is something I will never have in my daily life. It is his greatest strength and his greatest perceived weakness".

Do you remember when this president was revered for his cool headedness, and his ability to think through a dilemma, with input from friend & foe alike? What happened to that? Whoever said that dealing with Democrats is like herding cats, was on the money.

[Pisces]

29. Couldn't agree more.

[marshall]

25. This will be a saving grace for Obama if it goes off as planned

He needs to cling to it and work hard for it to come off on the December deadline.

[Teka]

30. Meanwhile, screw all the servicemen and women discharged

The only schedule that should have been followed was to repeal it in the first 100 days.