Good morning.
The President is in Seoul today. He had to cut out of Indonesia early because of the volcano. While he's there, Obama will attend a G-20 summit. At the last G-20 summit in June, Obama said:
For some reason people keep on being surprised when I do what I said I was going to do. So I say I’m going to reform our health care system and people think, well, gosh, that’s not smart politics, maybe we should hold off. Or I say, we’re going to move forward on ‘don’t ask, don’t tell,’ and somehow people say, well, why are you doing that, I’m not sure that’s good politics.Not good politics?
We keep hearing that repealing DADT is "controversial." But, that's only true here in DC and among the right-wing homophobes. Ending the ban has very broad public support. Christ, even Dick and Liz Cheney are on our side. Yet, in DC, anything related to "the gay" is deemed controversial. It's blatant homophobia for most GOPers. It's political homophobia for many Democcrats. And, too many traditional media types dutifully report that DADT is controversial without asking why and for whom.
Want to know what isn't good politics? Not repealing DADT. As John said yesterday on MSNBC:
This is going to be a disaster for the President. The gay community is not gonna take this anymore.I think the White House is seriously underestimating how disillusioned the LGBT community is. When I expressed the disappointment and disillusionment that exists, the President told me:
I’ll be honest with you, I don’t think that the disillusionment is justified.Obama doesn't get to decide if we're disillusioned. But, if DADT doesn't end this year, as promised, we'll be beyond disillusioned.
