…the more they remain the same.
The chiefs of the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines objected on Wednesday to a compromise plan to repeal the military’s ban on allowing gay men and lesbians to serve openly, a position that put them at odds with President Obama and Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates.
In letters solicited by Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, who is opposed to repeal, the chiefs said they wanted Congress to delay voting on the issue until after Dec. 1, when the Pentagon is to complete a review of how the military should carry out the changes.
This is the same problem that Bill Clinton faced back in 1993. His own military stood up to him and publicly resisted his proposed change in policy. In this case, Obama is doing better because the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee are on his side. Obama still had to deal Ike Skelton, the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, and these top officers of the services who are opposing him. Anyone want to heckle the president over this?
And how many of the top brass were supportive of Truman at the time? And who is supposed to be boss? Obama or the service chiefs?
Is Obama, the consummate manipulator/conciliator/arbitrator, cut out to be a Boss? He told us years ago that that’s not his style. Can’t we all just get along? will be his response.
I think Obama’s more like the guy in that great old Willie Dixon song, “29 Ways”. That guy had “29 ways to make it to my baby’s door”, and is willing to use any and all of them to get there.
Obama, in my view, is willing to use all sorts of tactics, strategies and timetables to accomplish his goals. (Your mileage, of course, may vary.)
progressive want him to “fight hard” and losing doesn’t make a big difference to them – in fact, losing makes it easier since you don’t have to deal with consequences.
Your kind of critique just makes me laugh. Consider the following:
He will get DADT repealed, too. Watch.
You mean like the watered down 1st .. and now 2nd .. stimulus?
Yep.
And, you know what? Watered down, my ass:
And how many hundreds of billions was it short of what was actually needed? Am I supposed to praise him?
This is essentially a diet of malnutrition. It’ll keep the prisoner from dying, but it won’t get them healthy.
Do you recall the vote on the Stimulus package? Let me refresh your memory. No Republicans in the House and only three Republican Senators voted for the bill. One of those Republicans was Arlen Specter. Why was that? Well, aside from signaling their intention to be a Party of No, the bill was written mainly by David Obey and has basically a Christmas list of goodies for liberals with a bunch of tax cuts thrown in to get the votes needed to pass.
The bill is working better than its critics anticipated. In fact, it is working better than its proponents anticipated. So, maybe it’s time to give up the narrative that it was too small or watered down. It could have been bigger, certainly. It could have more job creation and less wealth creation, but it ultimately passed with the bare minimum of votes. So, maybe you might give the president credit rather than harping on about his compromising nature.
I will harp on it. Even his own cabinet admitted the stimulus wasn’t enough. Do we know Specter would have voted against it? Did Specter really think Democrats were going to give his ass a free ride this time(way before Sestak’s challenge became a reality)? Do we know how much he lobbied Specter and the Maine ladies? Why does he have a CoS who looks to cut deals no matter the result? That’s all Rahm cares about. He doesn’t give a rats ass about any “Democratic” goals. What are you going to say to all those teachers that prick Christie wants to lay off in New Jersey? What about that deficit commission? Why are they(and by extension Obama) so ready to torpedo the recovery? When did Democrats become such good friends with cocksuckers like Pete Peterson?
Whoever you are referring to in his cabinet, go ask his them today. A lot of people said a lot of things at the time because they wanted more goodies. You ask for a lot more than you need so that you can get what you need. Back then, some liberals were asking for a third more stimulus, or to strip out the tax cuts and to add it to spending items. Trust me, neither of those options were actually available to the president.
bitch bitch bitch
you guys are screaming at the players on the floor to just take the ball the to hoop – how hard can that be?
How can anybody think this makes sense?
Why would Republicans think they need cover to vote against it? This is the kind of beltway “insider” bullshit that has destroyed policy discussion in this country. The plan is obviously to delay consideration until a new session next year, when the Reps hope (futilely) to win congressional majorities. It would have worked out much better if Obama could have said “The military has worked out the details of the transition, and now there is no possible reason to hold onto an ill-conceived and unjust policy.” But thanks in part to the gay activists who just can’t wait, he’s now in a corner where either his own side snipes about him being a liar, or he goes against the military. His best bet now would be to order the military to complete their review by August, and then get the thing done.
Time to cashier a general engaged in insubordination.
If they object to the compromise, they intend to run out the clock as long as they can on the study.
Pretty much. Ignore them and pass the thing then sack them all.