Appearing on CSPAN’s Newsmakers this Sunday, Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-MI) questioned whether DADT repeal can get done in the time alloted on the calendar and whether Democratic leadership has the will to fight for the time he'll need to get it passed:
The way I think the President needs to fight is to say that he is going to use all of the power he has of a bully pulpit and urge the Senate to stay in, right up to New Years....that’s the problem that I don’t see that kind of a willingness to fight that hard, where he will take that kind of a position and that’s what’s necessary.
(Hat tip Igor Volsky/Think Progress.) Transcript after the fold.
Transcript from Think Progress:
LEVIN: One of the questions will be whether we stay long enough to get some of these things done and I hope we stay as long as we need. There are many days extra if we stay after Christmas, it adds a few days. It would add a few days, for instance, if we stayed in the Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday before Christmas. You can pick-up a few days, and if it will make a difference, and I think it can... I would hope we would take those few days and also to get Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell passed. [...]
The way I think the President needs to fight is to say that he is going to use all of the power he has of a bully pulpit and urge the Senate to stay in, right up to New Years....that’s the problem that I don’t see that kind of a willingness to fight that hard, where he will take that kind of a position and that’s what’s necessary. The Senate and the House, these are tests of wills.
Levin is playing for desperately needed overtime. He has a lot of skin in the game, and has really stuck his neck out on DADT. He's also spent much of the year building the National Defense Authorization Act, which encompasses so much more than DADT repeal. I wonder if he is using the phrase "bully pulpit" with the full knowledge of its ironic connotations, or just as a coincidental cliche?
Unfortunately Levin's message to the White House does not seem to have been recieved. At a press conference yesterday Robert Gibbs gave a less than inspiring answer regarding the White House priorities:
Asked where the DREAM Act and DADT repeal stood on the president’s priority list of "achievable" measures, Gibbs declined to be specific.
"There’s not a list of 1, 2, 3, 4," he said. "There’s are a series of things I think the president believes are important and can be done this year."
He added that in his view, "we’re closer than we’ve ever been to making repeal a reality."
Paul Rieckhoff is the Executive Director of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA) and a familiar face to Rachel Maddow viewers. He wrote a scathing piece in the Huffington Post on Sunday, #SenateFail: How the Senate May Have Doomed DADT (and the Defense Bill Along With it). He explained his organization's decision to come out in support of DADT repeal two weeks ago.
Recently, "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" (DADT) has become a media staple. And with good reason. It’s a subject of historic importance, a defining issue of our time. Activists, politicians and pundits have talked every DADT angle, but they oversimplified the political discussion, leading most Americans to believe that last week Congress was voting yes or no on repealing only this controversial policy. But that wasn’t the case. DADT was actually just one component of a larger, comprehensive annual Defense Bill, the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). NDAA has dozens of other, low profile provisions that will impact our troops and veterans in a profound way. Military Sexual Trauma support. Traumatic Brain Injury screening. Military pay raises. Stop loss back pay. Burn pit investigations. They are all in this massive bill – which also contains DADT.
It isn't just about DADT. Unfortunately the overblown, hyperbolic politics that surround DADT and political gamesmanship in the Senate in general threatens to take troops down with it. Where is the fight for the troops? Why are the GOP not being called to account for voting against the troops?
Reid and the President wanted START, DREAM, NDAA, DADT, 9/11 first responders support, taxes, and a big bipartisan hug – and they wanted it all this year. And when you try to do everything – especially when your opponent is more disciplined and unified – you often get nothing.
Tying DADT to NDAA was a gamble the Democrats took and lost. As a result, everyone might lose. DADT repeal proponents. The Democrats. The President. And especially our troops. They, their families and the vital support they need in wartime contained within NDAA have become the collateral damage of yet another vicious, partisan, political battle.
I urge you to read his piece in it's entirety so you can see the many policy improvements that address mental health issues, sexual trauma, military pay raises, and new health record sharing programs that will also be lost if the Senate does not pass the NDAA.
Friday, 13 organizations, including Human Rights Campaign, American Veterans for Equal Rights, Service Women's Action Network, GetEqual, MoveOn and Democracy for America, joined forces with Servicemembers Legal Defense Network for a "Mission: Incomplete" rally. Amidst chants of "Don't Go Home! Don't Go Home!" a dozen veterans, gay and straight, call on the Senate to complete the mission they have been assigned.
Major Mike Almay addresses the crowd. He is one of three discharged soldiers that challenged the DOD in Federal Court under the Witt standard for reenlistment yesterday. SLDN says more lawsuits are coming.
Discharged Marine Danny Fernandez is ready to serve honorably again: "I am ready to die for my country." His story is here.
Demonstrators remember Seaman August Provost, murdered after being harassed for being rumors of bisexuality. I told his story here: August Provost didn't have to die. His family remains in the dark about the circumstances surrounding his death, a full investigation was never made.
Chris Geidner reported on the rally in Metro Weekly. Video below.
Update: Please rec JP's Action Diary: Now or Never: Call Harry Reid and Demand DADT Repeal!
Credo is among the groups calling on the Senate to stay until their work is done. They have a petition here, although I'd suggest telling your Senator more directly.