Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Don't ask, I'll tell

The current fake issue of the day is... Don't Ask, Don't Tell (DADT).

Yes, it's a fake issue.

If it was a real issue, the Democrats would have approached yesterday's vote in another manner. More on how the Democrats could repeal DADT in a moment. For now, we should all be honest and recognize that throwing issues like this into appropriations bills are intended to make political capital, nothing more.

Yesterday, 40 Republican Senators joined Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and two other Democrat Senators in voting against DATA attachments to a defense authorizations bill. Who says the GOP won't work with the Senate leadership?

What does the vote mean for Republicans? Nothing. Not a single Republican lost a November vote and not a single Democrat picked up a November vote.

Now, if the Senate wants to take on DADT, then the Senate should take on DADT, not back door it. So to speak.

But should the Senate address DADT?

The solution seems simple to me: if the Commander-in-Chief directs military personnel to ignore the current restrictions and to drop all DADT prosecutions. And he can promise (and -- this is key -- deliver) pardons to anyone who is prosecuted in defiance of his orders. At least, that's what I would do. And it would work.

Why won't Obama do it?

He has nothing to gain by doing it.

If he did, the whole issue would go away. No Republican president would revoke the decision after January 20, 2013. DADT would effectively be dead. And, eventually, DADT would come off the books.

But, like I said, Obama won't do it. Because it would take away a cudgel the Democrats use against Republicans.

Obama and the Democrats don't want to win the issue. They had large enough majorities to make it happen for a year and a half.

So, what do they want? They want to argue the issue.

Because if they have something to point at and say "Look how unfair this is!" then they have a distraction from the real issues. Like the socialist policies they believe in, and how they are damaging this country.

And that's damage that no army -- no matter how many heterosexuals or homosexuals make up that army -- can defend against.

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