Source: San Jose Mercury News, MSNBC, New York Times, Human Events

US Rep. Ellen Tauscher (D-CA) reintroduced a bill Monday to repeal the military's "Don't Ask Don't Tell" (DADT) policy that has been used to kick thousands of gay and lesbian service members out of the armed forces.

"This is an important civil rights issue. We also need the strongest military possible, and we need to recruit the best and brightest Americans. Some happen to be gay," Tauscher said Monday during a forum at the Center for American Progress, a Democratic think tank, San Jose Mercury News reports.

As usual, Rachel Maddow explained it all yesterday with quick wit and insight. (See clip at end of this post.)

President Barack Obama said during the campaign that he supported a re-evaluation of the policy that was adopted by Congress 16 years ago after a bitter debate during the first months of the Clinton administration. But administration official - and Obama himself - have said the policy would be changed only after a lengthy review.

On this and other decisive social issues, the Obama administration has urged a slow and methodical approach.

Bill introduced to start slow process of repealing DADT [contd.]

"Clinton was scarred by the issue, and Obama is right to be cautious," said Lawrence Korb, according to Mercury News. Korb is a military analyst with the Center for American Progress who served in the Reagan administration,

Mercury News Washington reporter Frank Davies points out that Obama has reason to be wary, based on what happened to another new Democratic president with no military service, Bill Clinton, when he took office in 1993. Clinton had promised to end the ban, then ran into a fire storm of opposition from the Pentagon and Congress.

Congress took the unusual step of taking the matter out of Clinton's hands and working out the "don't ask, don't tell" compromise that was backed at the time by the military.

"But there are costs for delaying this," Korb pointed out. "Obama wants to expand the Army and Marines, and they need to enlarge the talent pool for recruits."

Korb has said that an estimated 65,000 gays are serving in the military now, Mercury News reports.

Ending the ban would improve military readiness, Nathaniel Frank told Mercury News. He is a research fellow at the University of California-Santa Barbara whose new book, "Unfriendly Fire," documents how more than 12,000 gay service members have been discharged since 1993. 54 much-needed Arabic linguists were among those discharged, according to Frank.

[Update: Rachel Maddow interviewed Frank on Tuesday's show. See the second clip below.]

But a spokesman for House minority leader John Boehner signaled that any attempt to repeal the policy would again face stiff opposition from Republicans in Congress. Boehner's communications director Kevin Smith told the right-wing magazine Human Events, "We are a nation at war in Iraq and Afghanistan, and yet Democrats want to pursue a highly controversial path that will create a huge disruption within the ranks of our military? House Republicans will vigorously fight this."

Jonathan Kaplan, a spokesman for Tauscher acknowledged that it would be several months before there were hearings or actual debates on the bill.

The New York Times points out that the Obama administration has been stepping gingerly as it begins reversing some policies on social issues that tend to spark loud ideological debates. Last week, it began a repeal of the so-called conscience rule for medical personnel - a policy that conservatives claimed protected doctors and others from being forced to perform abortions, but the administration has yet to roll back the law on stem-cell research, even though President Obama said he was considering doing so with an executive order.

White House spokesman Thomas F. Vietor told New York Times political blogger Kate Phillips yesterday, "The president supports changing `Don't Ask Don't Tell.' As part of a longstanding pledge, he has also begun consulting closely with Secretary Gates and Chairman Mullen so that this change is done in a sensible way that strengthens our armed forces and our national security."

Tauscher acknowledged to Mercury News that she and others who want to end the ban need to work to build support in Congress, and that may include a commission to study the issue "headed by someone like Colin Powell."

"The military helped break down barriers through desegregation and expanding the role of women," Tauscher told the Mercury News. "We must tear down this final barrier."

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Source: Congresswoman wants to end 'don't ask, don't tell' | San Jose Mercury News
Repeal Sought Again of `Don't Ask, Don't Tell' Law | New York Times
Obama Economics Worse than Bush | Human Events
Rachel Maddow's Ms. Information | MSNBC
hattip: Good As You
hattip: Joe.My.God