What ever happened to President Obama’s sweeping campaign statements about eliminating “don’t ask, don’t tell” in the military?
Since the election, we’ve heard nothing from him on the subject. What we have heard is the continuing drumbeat of loyal, experienced, talented people being kicked out of the service for being gay.
We’ve heard over and over again about how urgently we need translators in the service, particularly in the Middle East. And yet someone, somewhere, has decided it’s really important to go around finding and firing gay translators. Or maybe it’s just translators whose stories are picked up by the media. Some of them have come out since the election, possibly thinking that in the wake of Obama’s promise, they would be protected and allowed to continue their service. Or maybe they were trying to make a point about his not keeping his promise.
So now we are worse off than before. With an admitted shortage of translators, and our military stretched perilously thin around the world, we continue to kick people out of the service for being gay.
Mr. President, you said “don’t ask, don’t tell” was wrong. We know you’ve been terribly busy, but it can’t possibly take more than a stroke of your pen or a word to Congress to eliminate the policy. And until you do, the U.S. Armed Forces will continue to lose valuable, experienced personnel.
Hey 30,
I have a feeling this won’t be the only campaign promise that won’t be kept. But you’re right – this is just absurd. It was nuts when Clinton instigated it and it’s stupid now. For some reason though, it appears that our ‘leaders’ don’t really care what we think, eh?
Annie
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They only care what we think when they’re jonesing for our votes or our money. About all we can do is vote for the candidate we think will do the best job, and then sit back and watch what happens.
Campaigning and governing are not the same. President Obama understands this quite well. Seriously, would you vote for a Republican over the president 4 years from now if he does not keep his campaign promises? Not a chance, I say.
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I vote the candidate, not the party. But as it happens, Colin Powell is the only Republican I’ve wanted to vote for for several years now, and he’s washed his hands of the political scene (can’t say I blame him).