Obama's DADT hypocrisy

Armed forces recruiters aren’t sure. Prospective military personnel aren’t sure. We’re not sure. We’re not entirely sure the higher circuit courts are even sure. In fact, it’s somewhat safe to say most of America isn’t sure what the current status of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” is on a daily basis.

With Judge Virginia Phillips ruling that the policy was unconstitutional earlier last week, the circuit court judge seemingly ended the nagging and much-politicized debate on “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” The ruling certainly took everyone by surprise, including the supposed bastion of liberalism in America, the Obama administration.

For several days last week, homosexual individuals could enlist at recruitment offices.

And while some thought that the — dare we say — injustice had ended, many were skeptical; justice in America isn’t allocated so quickly and easily, unfortunately. And as good observers of politics, they were right. By the end of the week, the ruling was appealed not by a bulwark of age-old conservatism, but by the supposedly anti-DADT Obama administration’s own Department of Justice.

Here’s the deal. Liberals put Obama into office because they believed he would be the champion all of the liberalism’s forgotten causes. Halfway into his presidency, it’s safe to say liberals are not impressed.

“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” is one of those forgotten causes. Obama has promised to end DADT on his watch, but now his own department has prolonged its sad existence.

One of the reasons he did this was to appease the very nervous conservative individuals both in Congress and in America. The reality is that conservatives are not planning to support Obama in the next election; they are looking for a new conservative revolution.

The fact is that Obama cannot be the great bridge between liberals and conservatives, especially in today’s political climate. If he continues trying to be a James Buchanan, he won’t have the support of conservatives, and he will most certainly lose his base. Obama should know that without conservatives willing to compromise, he needs to stick to the political platform that won him the presidency.

As his role model Lincoln did after the disastrous Buchanan presidency, Obama needs to push for politics as he sees it — specifically to end DADT anyway he can.

At this point in time, Obama is losing more liberal voters than he is gaining conservative voters. The issue of DADT has gone on far too long; for both political and practical reasons it needs to be repealed.

It is a great disappointment that DADT continues to be a political issue in this nation and even more so that the liberal leadership in this nation has only hindered its forthcoming end.