If you don't get behind this administration when it comes to DADT, then you're a fool. It's that simple.
Let me begin by saying that I appreciate and empathize with the plight of gay Americans. All around us, we see gay and transgendered individuals abused and treated like second class citizens. We see opportunities denied to them that are given to others as a default condition of their sexuality. We have countless people brutally harmed by anti-gay legislation and institutional homophobia every single day. It's real pain, it's real damage, and it's absolutely unjust.
I believe very deeply that our President knows all of this, and very much wants to correct those injustices as best he can.
There is a whole hell of a lot of negative energy being tossed at the President from the left these days, despite an inexorable march towards more and greater equality for gay Americans. It is a part of nearly every one of his major speeches. It is clearly a part of his platform, and it would take a very cynical person to think that gay rights is not actually a deeply held belief of this President and his administration.
I know that many of you are deeply frustrated by what looks to be a snails pace on this issue. However, many domestic issues have come up - namely a crashing economy, two botched wars the President did not start but is now judged as owning, and a massive environmental catastrophe in the gulf. And despite all of these major happenings, the President continues to push forward on gay rights.
And still people find cause to call him a fraud or to spew hatred and bile his way. It boggles the mind.
Did you expect that on the first day, or even in the first six months of his Presidency, that Obama would wave his magic pen and legalize same sex marriage? Did you imagine that he would simply be able to walk into the first meeting with his Joint Chiefs and immediately order them to repeal DADT, regardless of it's impact (real or imagined)? Do you honestly believe that DADT is the military issue that should have had primary billing in the national security agenda? Did you imagine that, given the toxic environment in the Senate, that this issue would somehow not tank the rest of the agenda? That gays in the military would not become exactly the kind of wedge issue the Republicans needed in order to truly motivate their base and independent voters? Did you honestly believe that if he went at this issue by swinging a hammer that it achieve the end you desire? Is the way the battle is fought more important to you than it's successful outcome?
If you think that, then you're an idiot. It may sound harsh, but it's really that simple. Equality for gay and trans-gender Americans is a very important social issue, but it isn't the most pressing issue for the country as a whole. Politically or pragmatically. And while that might be a bitter pill to swallow, it's the god's honest truth.
Instead of hurling invective and vitriol at this administration for not dancing your precise dance as fast as you want, exactly to the tune you choose or to the conclusion you desire, you might want to try some fucking gratitude. Because this President is the best ally for this cause that you have ever, ever had. No other President has ever got this far when it comes to gay rights, and no other President is going to fight for those rights as best he can under the circumstances that dictate the current reality.
I know it's hard, and as the light at the end of the tunnel gets closer, it must increase the difficulty. You can smell it - and it must be very difficult to sit on your hands for just a few more months. I get that. But don't tear at the one institution that is offering your best hope of justice because they are taking a careful course. If this is to be a long term solution, it requires a careful hand.
Yes, Bush was able to cram a lot of stuff down our collective throats in his tenure. At the time, we hated him for it. We hated his methods. We hated his divisiveness. And now, people here are calling for those self-same tactics to be employed. How quickly we forget. How quickly we abandon our allies because they aren't fighting in exactly the way we demand they fight.