And finally (that is, finally with the political commentary this morning), in my view, David Michael Green gets it just right, re: Mr. Obama's role in the process that ended DADT, and what his behavior in the DADT debates predicts for the future, vis-a-vis his administration and gay citizens:
The other missing ingredient here is that the president, who may not have even worked particularly hard behind the scenes for this legislation, surely didn't get out front on it. That is to say that he -" unlike Lyndon Johnson or Jack Kennedy -" never used the bully pulpit to make the moral case for why this is the right and essential task for the nation at this time. Civil rights legislation and moral haranguing go hand in hand, each reinforcing and further advancing the other. Barack taking a powder on one of the great moral causes of our day doesn't exactly help make life in America better and safer for gays and lesbians. Indeed, it's worse than that. By stating that he still opposes gay marriage, he is absolutely part of the problem, not the solution.
My guess is that we're going to be seeing more of that. The last two years have been disappointing and arguably quite disastrous for the country. That produced a lovely vicious cycle, which gave us Election 2010, the results of which are now likely to produce even more disastrous politics over the coming two years.
This was all ridiculously unnecessary, but that's how it works with Obama and his party.
Barack Obama has turned out to be anything but a champion of human rights in the tradition of LBJ, Kennedy, or Roosevelt. To his great discredit.
H/t to John Aravosis at America Blog Gay for this link.
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