Obama calls Levin to urge lame-duck 'don't ask, don't tell' repeal

[kpete]

Source: Politico

November 17, 2010
Categories:

Obama calls Levin to urge lame-duck 'don't ask, don't tell' repeal

After months of complaints that President Barack Obama had failed to lobby senators to pass legislation to repeal the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy banning openly gay servicemembers, Obama has picked up the phone on the issue.

However, the president didn’t ring a fence-sitting lawmaker, but one who has championed repeal and helped craft the current conditional repeal language: Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.)

"Today, President Obama called Chairman Levin to reiterate his commitment on keeping the repeal of 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' in the National Defense Authorization Act, and the need for the Senate to pass this legislation during the lame duck," White House spokesman Shin Inouye said Wednesday afternoon.



Read more: http://www.politico.com/blogs/joshgerstein/1110/Obama_calls_Levin_to_urge_lameduck_dont_ask_dont_tell_repeal.html

[davidinalameda]

1. so what is Obama's plan if Congress doesn't repeal DADT?

is his DOJ going to drop their appeal of the ruling declaring it unconstitutional?

[bluestateguy]

4. I have a feeling they have some kind of executive order in a drawer somewhere if that happens

And I really hope I am not wrong abut that.

[groundloop]

5. Probably. But it would be far better to write repeal into a law....

If it's just an executive order then president palin :puke: can rescind it, whereas if it's written into law it will be far more difficult for right wingers to rescind.

My take on this is that the President has wanted repeal to be done through Congress all along for just this reason, though many aren't happy about the wait.

[davidinalameda]

10. or he could simply have told his DOJ not to appeal the ruling

stating that DADT was unconstitutional

that would have been the simplest thing to do and no one would have had to wait; no one would have had to worry about McCain filibustering the defense bill

[defendandprotect]

14. Would have shown some courage .... DADT is "un-Constitutional" ...

[Tx4obama]

2. The OP article does not tell the whole story - see below

.... White House spokesman Shin Inouye sent the following statement to reporters Wednesday afternoon:

"Today, President Obama called Chairman (Carl) Levin to reiterate his commitment on keeping the repeal of 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' in the National Defense Authorization Act, and the need for the Senate to pass this legislation during the lame duck. The President’s call follows the outreach over the past week by the White House to dozens of Senators from both sides of the aisle on this issue."

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4618827

[Tx4obama]

3. Full quotes are always better than partial ones. n/t

[riderinthestorm]

6. Yup, he's finally moving on this issue.

It would be a huge symbolic effort for the left, and supported by the vast majority of the US population.

It's a no-brainer for Obama. It's past time he spent some effort in making this happen. He should have done it this summer but now he's on the hot-spot. Better late than never.

[hughee99]

7. As opposed to urging it during the period of time when we had 60 senate votes. n/t

[Tx4obama]

8. We never had 60 votes.

The demographic of the senate will not change until January.
The two senators (from special elections - West Virginia & Delaware) that were sworn in the other day were both democrats replacing democrats.
Nothing has changed.

[davidinalameda]

9. there were 3 special elections, not two

Illinois was the third

I believe that Mark Kirk will be seated in December

[Tx4obama]

11. Yep. Kirk will 'likely' be sworn in on Dec. 3. n/t

[hughee99]

16. If I'm not mistaken...

After Franken was seated in July '09, we had 60 votes. Senator Kennedy was (obviously) not well enough to vote at the time, but after his passing and some legal wrangling where they undid a law they had passed only a few years earlier, his aide Paul Kirk was appointed to fill the seat Sep. 25th '09 until Scott brown was elected. Am i missing something?

http://www.politico.com/livepulse/1109/Kennedy_replacement_is_crucial_60th_vote.html

[defendandprotect]

15. Exactly ... this should have regularly been in front of the GOP making them vote it down...!!!

And who knows -- they may have found a way to pass it!!

[hughee99]

17. I suspect they didn't push it then because it would have looked even worse

if they had 60 Democratic votes in the caucus and still couldn't get it done. Now they can go back to blaming the repukes for it.

[ruggerson]

12. Well he got pressured into making one phone call

at least that's progress.

[defendandprotect]

13. Good for Obama ... and wouldn't that be loverly!!