Which means it ain’t happening this year and if they lose the House and Senate, probably NEVER.
Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said at a White House briefing today that the President is committed to waiting for the Pentagon to finish its “study” on “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” before actively pushing for repeal, effectively pushing it into 2011. Which would be AFTER the mid-term elections and not in time to attach to the attached to a Department of Defense authorization bill
So Obama lied during the State of the Union speech about repealing this year. Shocker. And Solomonese lied about it during his fundraising tour of South Carolina this year.
MR. GIBBS: No. Again, I would remind anybody on this issue — look, first of all, I will say this. Obviously the President made a commitment in the presidential campaign, and understands the passion that people hold the belief that all should be able to serve. The President holds that belief too. But I would remind folks that wasn’t a belief that the President held in 2007 — that’s a belief that the President held in running for the Senate as far back as 2003. The President has made and is committed to making this changed law. I don’t think he’s underestimated the — as you said, the patience of some. The President wants to see this law changed, just as you’ve heard the Chair of the Joint Chiefs and others in the military say that it’s time for that change to happen. Q But he’s committed to them letting the Pentagon work through its working group process until December 1st, is that true? He’s committed to that?
MR. GIBBS: Yes. The President has set forward a process with the Joint — the Chair of the Joint Chiefs and with the Secretary of Defense to work through this issue.
Q Before any legislative action is taken — that rules out legislative action this year?
MR. GIBBS: Well, again — the House and the Senate are obviously a different branch of government. The President has a process and a proposal I think that he believes is the best way forward to seeing, again, the commitment that he’s made for many years in trying to — changing that law.
I am sooooooooooooo shocked!