Congressman Barney Frank is quoted by the Metro Weekly a DC area gay paper:
The Politics of Repeal
Calling the changes to the ''Don't Ask, Don't Tell'' military policy a ''great improvement'' that supportive members of Congress had ''been urging them to do,'' Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) quickly framed that movement in terms of the lack of movement on the issue from the White House, saying on Thursday evening, ''They're ducking.''
There is a very interesting confluence of conversations on DADT. There are of course the conservatives of various stripes who are opposed to its repeal. Their positions range from Hell No to the time just isn't right for it.
Among those who hope for repeal there is also a range of positions and focus.
There are firm gay rights advocates who want repeal and believe that yesterday would have been later than it should have been. I place myself in that group.
Another group is made up of mostly non-gay people who have a strong interest in the military and its culture. They would like to see that culture become more inclusive and progressive. They see mitigation and eventual repeal of DADT as one important issue in that agenda. Many of them are taking very strong encouragement from the resent policy announcement by Sect. Gates and Adm. Mullin including its description of Gen. Mixon's anti-repeal remarks as "inappropriate". It seem to be their view that these developments represent very real and significant progress, at least in terms of military change.
There is another group that prefers to focus on the political implications of the repeal campaign and the issue of how high a profile President Obama should maintain in it. They are frequently concerned that an investment of political capital in this issue will detract from what they consider to be more urgent and significant issues and could damage Democratic prospects in the midterm elections.
Barney Frank wears numerous hats in this scene. He is a gay man, a prominent member of the Democratic congressional leadership, and generally a shrewd and savvy politician. There have been other comments attributed to him that were critical of the Obama White House on DADT, that were later "clarified". Perhaps this one will be too, but it seems pretty plausible to me that Barney is not really a happy camper on this matter.
It is certainly true that legislative action is required for a full and complete repeal of DADT. There seems to be fairly strong support for it in the house, but as is true with so many other things, the senate looks less hopeful. Pending legislative action the president and his administration have a range of powers available to impact the policy. The maximum possibility would be an executive order suspending all such discharges in the interest of national security. The president has the legal authority to take such action. He has chosen not to do so. Rather, Obama is using Gates to to take what is a fairly mild policy change.
The president called for the repeal of DADT this year in his state of the union address. There has been definite backtracking from this position with Gates talking about a year long study of the matter before he thinks repeal should take place. I would imagine that this is what Barney Frank is talking about. It certainly looks like ducking to me.
I am not personally unsympathetic to those who wish for a more inclusive military or to those focusing on Democratic electoral prospects. However, as a gay man, the issue of gay rights is at the top of my political agenda. None of us can see into the future. However, right now is when the Democrats do have strong majorities in Congress. They may or may not have them next year. I believe that if the president put his money where his mouth was last January, DADT could be repealed this year as he originally proposed. We will only know what the world will look like a year from now when that time arrives.