Oh yeah, about that gay rights promise... never mind

I really don't like being right about these things. Joe and I, and everyone else in the Netroots, went all out to elect a Democratic president and a Democratic Congress. It doesn't make us happy to see our concerns about their competence and character come to fruition. But today we have word from the Democrats that this year is a bad time to lift the ban on gays in the military, and next year won't work because - as Joe and I predicted repeatedly - it's a congressional election year, and keeping the Democrats' civil rights promises may anger the religious right (duh), the Dems are now telling us. So the next two years won't work for Don't Ask Don't Tell (and apparently any other gay rights promise). Of course, that means that the next year, 2011, won't work either, because it is the beginnings of the presidential primaries, and the year after that won't work, 2012, since it's a presidential election year and a congressional election year.

That means that the President and the Congress might keep the civil rights promises to tens of millions of gay and lesbian Americans some time in 2013, assuming Obama wins re-election or another Democrat takes his place. That of course assume that we aren't facing another economic crisis, or are fighting a war, or have the need to pass some other large piece of legislation - then the gays may have to wait until 2017, provided another Democrat wins the presidency, and the nation has no other important issues to address for a while. Barb over at DKos has a bit more.