"It's About Time"

Tom Ricks published this e-mail from a young submarine officer that sheds some light on the "controversy" over DADT repeal:

The debate may exist in the media, and certainly exists in Congress, but on the ship, if it's talked about at all it with a little bit of confusion about what the big deal is. Don't get me wrong, there is homophobia and there are a few loud, mostly uneducated, mostly very junior, and mostly still well-meaning people who would tell you they think its wrong -- but they're the kind of people who are just saying it because its what they were brought up to say, and even they aren't saying it with much fervor. I can tell you with certainty that if the ban were lifted tomorrow -- no year of preparation -- life would go on exactly as it did before....

Life would go on. Mostly what I heard after Admiral Mullen's declaration was, "it's about time." There is no question if the military is ready -- the military is waiting.

... I just want the press to understand that it is the Congress that needs pushing, not the military, and that excuses such as "senior military officials like the CJCS and SecDef are out of touch with the low-level, young guys on the ground" may be true on many issues, but not this one.

I'm not entirely convinced of his last statement. The Marine Commandant is openly opposed to repeal, and I suspect he's not alone among the most senior officers -- that, after all, was the group that pushed most strongly for keeping a ban on gays in the military in 1993, and that's still the group -- fortunately, mostly retired by now, but not all (or enough) of them -- who oppose repeal now.

The dynamics on this question are falling into an all-too-familiar pattern: the right wing has bamboozled the press (a willing accomplice, in my view) into believing there is wide-spread opposition to repeal, in spite of the evidence (faith-based journalism?), and convinced members of Congress that they will pay at the polls for supporting something that the overwhelming majority of the American people, both in and out of the military, support. (I mean, 70% in the country at large, and nearly 60% among enlisted personnel -- is anyone looking at the polling?) And in this case, we can't even point to well-oiled lobbyists and corporate contributions. All we have left is a bunch of Congressmen and Senators with their heads up their asses -- and a president who's been way too lackadaisical about pushing his agenda.

It's just another glaring example of the disconnect between Washington and reality.


Update:

From Buzzfeed, here are some of the "arguments" that the press and Congress are taking as "serious."