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12-22-08
By Scott Stiffler
EDGE Contributor
December 22, 2008
Shortly after president-elect Barack Obama takes the oath of office, will he confirm parallels to Clinton (young, ran on the economy) by seeking to change the military's ban on openly gay people as one of his first major policy initiatives?
Not likely. Obama has long pledged to revisit, revise and ultimately repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (DADT), as the policy is known. But early indications are that he'll do so in a manner that engages the military leadership and Congress. He hopes thereby to avoid the way Clinton's handling made it a lighting-rod issue. Obama doesn't want a public-relations hot potato that tarnishes his public image or hinders his ability to accomplish other early legislative efforts.
With two wars to fight and recruiting quotas to meet, "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" continues to hinder our military readiness, according to gay groups, by discouraging volunteers and discharging highly skilled troops. The policy basically states that members of the Armed Forces can be gay--as long as they don't act on it, or especially let alone else find out.
Even though dismissals have declined by almost half since the Iraq war began, the pentagon has discharged nearly 12,000 service members since the implementation of DADT in 1994. That statistic includes at least 59 Arabic and Farsi linguists, which led to several complaints in the media about letting these specialists go just when the U.S. needed intelligence of what was going on in the Middle East. Also caught in the crosshairs have been nearly 800 "mission critical" troops, coinsisting of medics, pilots and intelligence analysts.
Obama will confront DADT at a time when the country has almost a decade and a half to contemplate the policy as well as the notion of gay civil rights. Currently, 79 percent of Americans believe that LGBTs should be allowed to serve openly, up from 57 percent in 1992, according to a 2007 CNN survey.
To that end, the Military Readiness Enhancement Act, which would repeal DADT and enact a policy of non-discrimination among the armed forces, has 145 Congressional co sponsors.
Even outspoken critics of gays in the military--for whom DADT has always been an unsatisfactory compromise--have softened their position over the years.
A CNN interview with Colin Powell recently made headlines when the former head of Joint Chiefs of Staff and Secretary of State said, "We should be reevaluating it." But that tepid statement should not be interpreted as support for allowing LGBTs to serve openly. "I'm not prepared to say that you should do away with it until you have talked to the people who have to execute it and implement it--the armed forces leadership." said Powell. The retired four-star general added, however, that we may see a military that allows LGBTs to serve openly.
Obama Mantra 'Change' Doesn't Apply to Military
"Change," that upbeat, drumbeat slogan that put Obama into office, seems to come gradually as it applies to gays in the military. According to Powell, "I think we have to go at it slowly in the way that Senator Nunn said: Have hearings on it, get the military leaders up, have them justify it." Georgia Sen. Sam Nunn was an outspoken opponent of allowing gay servicemembers to serve openly when Clinton tackled the issue.
Michael I. Spak is a professor at the Chicago-Kent College of Law who previously served on active duty with the U.S. Army in the Judge Advocate General's Corps from 1963 to 1969. He's currently liaison officer of the Judge Advocate General's School in Charlottesville, Va. Over twenty years ago, Spak debated Colin Powell on Larry King's radio show, and is surprised by Powell's comparatively moderate stance on the issue today.
In that debate, Spak and Powell clashed over comparing the notion of openly gay soldiers to allowing blacks to serve alongside white soldiers. "The argument that was given to me by Colin Powell was that blacks were different because 'I was born black. I didn't choose to be black,' but that gay people choose to be gay."
Declining to engage Powell in a nature vs. nurture debate, Spak recalled what Truman told the military when he signed the executive order allowing blacks to serve: "Truman said, 'Bullshit. If you can't serve with black people, that's your problem.' When soldiers were told there will be blacks in the unit, they didn't quit." Furthermore, Spak reminds us that integration (of blacks, other minorities and women) did not lead to a predicted breakdown in morale, discipline, or military readiness.
But whether they're obligated to follow orders or not, nobody can force skeptical troops to accept gays serving openly among them. Scott Tucker, a cryptologist and petty officer second class, is a Navy veteran who served from 1991 to 1996. He was there when DADT was first implemented.
"On an aircraft carrier, the average age is 19," Tucker said. "You have people who come from a rural background who've never been around gays. Now they're showering and shaving with them. It causes a division in everyday life."
Asked whether Obama may be a more respected Commander in Chief than Clinton, Tucker says "As a vet, I view Obama to have no more credibility than Clinton. He's a bit younger and didn't have to dodge the draft, but most vets don't think any more highly of him than Clinton. Obama didn't' volunteer to serve and I look at folks who didn't serve as not being as pro military as somebody who went out of their way to serve."
With public opinion in his favor and former stalwarts like Powell taking a more moderate stance, however, Obama is still not likely to rush the process.
A December 11, 2008 report on NPR contrasted statements made on the campaign trail to more recent ones. A year ago, he told the Human Rights Campaign "America is ready to get rid of the 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' policy. All that is required is leadership." But just this past July, he told The Military Times, "This is not something that I am looking to shove down the military's throats."
Obama may be wise to administer any change to DADT with a spoonful of sugar - and time. Ivan Eland, director of the Center on Peace and Liberty at the Independent Institute, holds a Ph.D. in National Security Policy and has worked 15 years for Congress on these issues. He says that although times have changed, Obama still faces the same problems that Clinton did in terms of convincing a skeptical military.
Obama, however, has the advantage of learning from his predecessor's mistakes. "Obama doesn't want to have this issue swamp the boat earlier, as it did with Clinton," Eland says. "And although he is not old enough to have dodged the draft in Vietnam, he still never served in the military."
That absence of military service, combined with "the fact that he is a Democrat, also makes Obama timid around the military," he adds. To address this credibility gap, Eland notes that Obama has already tried to cultivate the military by appointing General James Jones as national security adviser, keeping Robert Gates as Secretary of Defense, nominating Ed Shinseki as Secretary of Veterans Affairs, and likely nominating Admiral Dennis Blair as Director of National Intelligence.
Eland speculates that these olive branches may eventually allow Obama to take the still unpopular step (at least among the rank-and-file in the military) of getting rid of DADT.
Military Prepares for the Inevitable
Aubrey Sarvis, executive director of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, also points out that Admiral Michael Mullen (current Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff "has acknowledged that they're having discussions at the Pentagon at the highest level to possibly change" DADT. The military has, it seems, been preparing for the inevitable even before Obama's plans were made clear at the Democratic Convention.
"Go back and look at the Democratic platform that was adopted in Denver," Sarvis says "The platform, which President elect Obama ran on, calls for repeal and for it to be replaced with the provisions in house bill HR124." This bill, the Military Readiness Enhancement Act, permits open service and has a policy of non discrimination with respect to sexual orientation.
Sarvis is optimistic about the chances of the platform's goals being realized sooner rather than later. "I think it's very likely to happen in the next congress and it's very likely to happen in the next session," he says.
An NPR report quoted Rep. Ellen Tauscher (D-CA) on the inevitability of repeal as saying, "Everybody knows it's going to happen--the question isn't when, it's really how. We've got about 145 sponsors now; we hope to move toward the 218 that we're going to need to pass it. We need a Senate sponsor of similar legislation, and we'll begin to do what Congress does."
With a repeal of DADT favored by a large majority of the population and lawmakers using words like "inevitability," Sarvis notes, "Things are dramatically different than they were fifteen years ago, particularly with respect to the level of overwhelming public support for open military service coupled with the fact that twenty-four other nations permit open service in their militaries."
Sarvis is also optimistic that Obama's diplomatic approach will ensure he avoids the political traps sprung by Clinton's ill-timed, confrontational approach to the issue: "Unlike Clinton, this president elect has already reached out to the senior military and said he wants to work with them."
Clinton, Sarvis recalls, faltered when he "never reached out until after he was sworn in and after he realized he did not have the support of the Defense Department or Congress. So already president elect Obama has extended his hand to the senior leadership and said he recognizes they play a key role in that they'll be the ones who will have to implement these changes."
Scott Stiffler is a New York City based writer and comedian who has performed stand-up, improv, and sketch comedy. His solo shows include Damaged by the 70s and An Evening With Insane Mark Twain & Dead Bette Davis. He must eat twice his weight in fish every day, or he becomes radioactive.
Will (or When Will?) Obama Repeal “Don�t Ask Don�t Tell”?
By Scott Stiffler
EDGE Contributor
December 22, 2008
Shortly after president-elect Barack Obama takes the oath of office, will he confirm parallels to Clinton (young, ran on the economy) by seeking to change the military's ban on openly gay people as one of his first major policy initiatives?
Not likely. Obama has long pledged to revisit, revise and ultimately repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (DADT), as the policy is known. But early indications are that he'll do so in a manner that engages the military leadership and Congress. He hopes thereby to avoid the way Clinton's handling made it a lighting-rod issue. Obama doesn't want a public-relations hot potato that tarnishes his public image or hinders his ability to accomplish other early legislative efforts.
With two wars to fight and recruiting quotas to meet, "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" continues to hinder our military readiness, according to gay groups, by discouraging volunteers and discharging highly skilled troops. The policy basically states that members of the Armed Forces can be gay--as long as they don't act on it, or especially let alone else find out.
Even though dismissals have declined by almost half since the Iraq war began, the pentagon has discharged nearly 12,000 service members since the implementation of DADT in 1994. That statistic includes at least 59 Arabic and Farsi linguists, which led to several complaints in the media about letting these specialists go just when the U.S. needed intelligence of what was going on in the Middle East. Also caught in the crosshairs have been nearly 800 "mission critical" troops, coinsisting of medics, pilots and intelligence analysts.
Obama will confront DADT at a time when the country has almost a decade and a half to contemplate the policy as well as the notion of gay civil rights. Currently, 79 percent of Americans believe that LGBTs should be allowed to serve openly, up from 57 percent in 1992, according to a 2007 CNN survey.
To that end, the Military Readiness Enhancement Act, which would repeal DADT and enact a policy of non-discrimination among the armed forces, has 145 Congressional co sponsors.
Even outspoken critics of gays in the military--for whom DADT has always been an unsatisfactory compromise--have softened their position over the years.
A CNN interview with Colin Powell recently made headlines when the former head of Joint Chiefs of Staff and Secretary of State said, "We should be reevaluating it." But that tepid statement should not be interpreted as support for allowing LGBTs to serve openly. "I'm not prepared to say that you should do away with it until you have talked to the people who have to execute it and implement it--the armed forces leadership." said Powell. The retired four-star general added, however, that we may see a military that allows LGBTs to serve openly.
Obama Mantra 'Change' Doesn't Apply to Military
"Change," that upbeat, drumbeat slogan that put Obama into office, seems to come gradually as it applies to gays in the military. According to Powell, "I think we have to go at it slowly in the way that Senator Nunn said: Have hearings on it, get the military leaders up, have them justify it." Georgia Sen. Sam Nunn was an outspoken opponent of allowing gay servicemembers to serve openly when Clinton tackled the issue.
Michael I. Spak is a professor at the Chicago-Kent College of Law who previously served on active duty with the U.S. Army in the Judge Advocate General's Corps from 1963 to 1969. He's currently liaison officer of the Judge Advocate General's School in Charlottesville, Va. Over twenty years ago, Spak debated Colin Powell on Larry King's radio show, and is surprised by Powell's comparatively moderate stance on the issue today.
In that debate, Spak and Powell clashed over comparing the notion of openly gay soldiers to allowing blacks to serve alongside white soldiers. "The argument that was given to me by Colin Powell was that blacks were different because 'I was born black. I didn't choose to be black,' but that gay people choose to be gay."
Declining to engage Powell in a nature vs. nurture debate, Spak recalled what Truman told the military when he signed the executive order allowing blacks to serve: "Truman said, 'Bullshit. If you can't serve with black people, that's your problem.' When soldiers were told there will be blacks in the unit, they didn't quit." Furthermore, Spak reminds us that integration (of blacks, other minorities and women) did not lead to a predicted breakdown in morale, discipline, or military readiness.
But whether they're obligated to follow orders or not, nobody can force skeptical troops to accept gays serving openly among them. Scott Tucker, a cryptologist and petty officer second class, is a Navy veteran who served from 1991 to 1996. He was there when DADT was first implemented.
"On an aircraft carrier, the average age is 19," Tucker said. "You have people who come from a rural background who've never been around gays. Now they're showering and shaving with them. It causes a division in everyday life."
Asked whether Obama may be a more respected Commander in Chief than Clinton, Tucker says "As a vet, I view Obama to have no more credibility than Clinton. He's a bit younger and didn't have to dodge the draft, but most vets don't think any more highly of him than Clinton. Obama didn't' volunteer to serve and I look at folks who didn't serve as not being as pro military as somebody who went out of their way to serve."
With public opinion in his favor and former stalwarts like Powell taking a more moderate stance, however, Obama is still not likely to rush the process.
A December 11, 2008 report on NPR contrasted statements made on the campaign trail to more recent ones. A year ago, he told the Human Rights Campaign "America is ready to get rid of the 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' policy. All that is required is leadership." But just this past July, he told The Military Times, "This is not something that I am looking to shove down the military's throats."
Obama may be wise to administer any change to DADT with a spoonful of sugar - and time. Ivan Eland, director of the Center on Peace and Liberty at the Independent Institute, holds a Ph.D. in National Security Policy and has worked 15 years for Congress on these issues. He says that although times have changed, Obama still faces the same problems that Clinton did in terms of convincing a skeptical military.
Obama, however, has the advantage of learning from his predecessor's mistakes. "Obama doesn't want to have this issue swamp the boat earlier, as it did with Clinton," Eland says. "And although he is not old enough to have dodged the draft in Vietnam, he still never served in the military."
That absence of military service, combined with "the fact that he is a Democrat, also makes Obama timid around the military," he adds. To address this credibility gap, Eland notes that Obama has already tried to cultivate the military by appointing General James Jones as national security adviser, keeping Robert Gates as Secretary of Defense, nominating Ed Shinseki as Secretary of Veterans Affairs, and likely nominating Admiral Dennis Blair as Director of National Intelligence.
Eland speculates that these olive branches may eventually allow Obama to take the still unpopular step (at least among the rank-and-file in the military) of getting rid of DADT.
Military Prepares for the Inevitable
Aubrey Sarvis, executive director of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, also points out that Admiral Michael Mullen (current Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff "has acknowledged that they're having discussions at the Pentagon at the highest level to possibly change" DADT. The military has, it seems, been preparing for the inevitable even before Obama's plans were made clear at the Democratic Convention.
"Go back and look at the Democratic platform that was adopted in Denver," Sarvis says "The platform, which President elect Obama ran on, calls for repeal and for it to be replaced with the provisions in house bill HR124." This bill, the Military Readiness Enhancement Act, permits open service and has a policy of non discrimination with respect to sexual orientation.
Sarvis is optimistic about the chances of the platform's goals being realized sooner rather than later. "I think it's very likely to happen in the next congress and it's very likely to happen in the next session," he says.
An NPR report quoted Rep. Ellen Tauscher (D-CA) on the inevitability of repeal as saying, "Everybody knows it's going to happen--the question isn't when, it's really how. We've got about 145 sponsors now; we hope to move toward the 218 that we're going to need to pass it. We need a Senate sponsor of similar legislation, and we'll begin to do what Congress does."
With a repeal of DADT favored by a large majority of the population and lawmakers using words like "inevitability," Sarvis notes, "Things are dramatically different than they were fifteen years ago, particularly with respect to the level of overwhelming public support for open military service coupled with the fact that twenty-four other nations permit open service in their militaries."
Sarvis is also optimistic that Obama's diplomatic approach will ensure he avoids the political traps sprung by Clinton's ill-timed, confrontational approach to the issue: "Unlike Clinton, this president elect has already reached out to the senior military and said he wants to work with them."
Clinton, Sarvis recalls, faltered when he "never reached out until after he was sworn in and after he realized he did not have the support of the Defense Department or Congress. So already president elect Obama has extended his hand to the senior leadership and said he recognizes they play a key role in that they'll be the ones who will have to implement these changes."
Scott Stiffler is a New York City based writer and comedian who has performed stand-up, improv, and sketch comedy. His solo shows include Damaged by the 70s and An Evening With Insane Mark Twain & Dead Bette Davis. He must eat twice his weight in fish every day, or he becomes radioactive.
