DADT, Inevitably

A couple choice items. First, it seems that the new commandant of the Marines, Gen. James Amos, opened his mouth and put his foot in it. But then, this is the head Marine, right?

First off, Amos is full of it. That's all -- just full of it.

"There is nothing more intimate than young men and young women — and when you talk of infantry, we're talking our young men — laying out, sleeping alongside of one another and sharing death, fear and loss of brothers," Amos said Saturday. "I don't know what the effect of that will be on cohesion. I mean, that's what we're looking at. It's unit cohesion, it's combat effectiveness."

Both of which have been demonstrated not to be affected by open service. Or does Amos expect us to believe that there are no gay Marines?

The second is from a piece by Adam Serwer, pointing the DADT issue more directly at the ineffectiveness of the Democrats:

The Wall Street Journal reports Democrats are ready to cave on DADT in the lame duck:

Sens. Carl Levin of Michigan and John McCain of Arizona, the top Democrat and Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, are in talks on stripping the proposed repeal and other controversial provisions from a broader defense bill, leaving the repeal with no legislative vehicle to carry it. With a repeal attached, and amid Republican complaints over the terms of the debate, the defense bill had failed to win the 60 votes needed to overcome a procedural hurdle in the Senate in September.

Look, if Democrats can't repeal a policy more than two thirds of the American people, including a majority of conservatives want gone then they can't expect people to vote for them.

This is all symptomatic of the administration's record on progressive issues in general, and gay issues in particular. John Cole doesn't get it:

Obama is elected on a platform that included support for a wide number of gay issues. He is openly opposed to DADT, DOMA, and favors ENDA. He appoints a record number of LGBT officials to his administration, more than ever before.

The Matthew Shepard Act passes the House with 175 votes against, predominantly Republican. It passes the Senate with Republicans voting against. Obama signs it into law in a very public ceremony.

Obama delivers address to HRC dinner. By contrast, Clinton, who signed DADT and DOMA, only showed AFTER he had won his second term.

Obama ends the 22 year old odious HIV travel ban while extending the Ryan White HIV/AIDS program.

Obama issues memorandum to expand the rights of LGBT people in regards to medical rights.

Obama extends federal benefits to same-sex partners of federal employees.

Obama works with the Pentagon to create a smooth path forward on DADT. He has the support of Mike Mullen, Sec. Def. Gates, and numerous other high-ranking military officials. DADT is included in the Defense Bill, and all but two Democrats vote to end DADT, at the President’s urging. Every single Republican votes against. DADT falls a little short.

Let's take these in order:

Yes he did appoint more gay and lesbians to positions that anyone before him. His credit.

He didn't have anything to the with the Hate Crimes bill, except for signing it -- and what was he going to do at that point, veto it? No credit.

Yes, he addressed HRC. HRC is in vast disfavor in the gay community right now, and has been the object of growing discontent for a while. They're Democratic lapdogs -- of course he addressed them. No credit.

Again, the HIV travel ban and the Ryan White Care Act: the legislation mandating the ban was repealed in 2008. It took the Obama administration a year to change the rules. The Ryan White Care Act is a no-brainer. No credit.

It's a memorandum, with little force, that can be rescinded any time; it doesn't expand rights, it merely restates rights that are already present by law. no credit.

The federal benefits were already available; Obama made them mandatory, but again, this can be rescinded by another executive order. Half credit.

DADT. OK -- this one's worn out. Obama has not done half of what he could have on DADT if he had been willing to display some leadership. No other country has taken more than six months to institute an open service policy. It's taking us 10 months to figure out what to do. No credit.

I would have left a comment at Cole's blog, but there were already over 200.

Enough's enough.