Obama gives a mixed message regarding gays in the military. Which clearly shows his lack of knowledge with respect to the inner workings of the military. He advocates a repeal of the "Don't Ask Don't Tell" policy of Bill Clinton. But, at the same time, states that homosexuality should not be a litmus test for entry into the military.
Barack Obama says if elected president he won't require that his appointees to the Joint Chiefs of Staff support allowing gays to serve openly in the military.Obama wants to repeal "Don't Ask Don't Tell"
The Democratic presidential front-runner favors repealing the "don't ask, don't tell" policy on gays, which was instituted during the Clinton administration. He said his priority for the Joint Chiefs will be that they make decisions to strengthen the military and keep the country safe, not their position on the policy.
"I would never make this a litmus test for the Joint Chiefs of Staff," Obama said in an interview with The Advocate, a gay newsmagazine.
"But I think there's increasing recognition within the Armed Forces that this is a counterproductive strategy," he said. "We're spending large sums of money to kick highly qualified gays or lesbians out of our military, some of whom possess specialties like Arab-language capabilities that we desperately need. That doesn't make us more safe."
Obama's contradictory position, of course, ignores the reason the policy was wrongly imposed in the first place. Which is, that military members are overwhelming against homosexuals being allowed to serve in the military, and that without such a policy, gays would not be allowed to serve. In other words, without their acceptance being forced, there would be no acceptance at all. And Obama citing a few examples of where homosexuals can be useful in military service ignores the overall distraction they create and defies the will of our military institutions and the people who serve in them. The armed forces, more than any institution in America, require unity. Forcing service members to serve with people whom they find morally corrupt does not foster unity. And it does not make us more safe. Obama is wrong again.
1 comments:
That's a good take. I've never understood why politicians want to make the military a proving ground for social policies.
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