Pelosi Promises DADT Vote..So Many Promises, so little time

By James Withers, contributing editor, 365Gay Blog04.28.2010 11:30am EDT

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi plans on having a “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” vote this year.

According to Drew Hammill, a Pelosi spokesperson, “it is the Speaker’s intention that a vote will be taken this year.”

This was welcomed news from DADT opponents.

“I’m delighted that [Pelosi] reaffirmed to hold the vote this year,” said Aubrey Sarvis, executive director of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network. While we are on the topic of SLDN, you all know about their new media program right? We covered it here and here.

Sarvis thinks it’s time for a certain guy in the White House to step up to the plate.

“The hour for the president as well as for the leadership to become engaged is now,” he said. “The reality is — particularly in the Senate Armed Services Committee — we are still short of some critical votes. We don’t have the votes today. We’re on the brink of getting them, and we need help from leadership on the Hill and from the president himself.”

While this is a good idea, it isn’t how Obama operates. Never has been. If you read David Remnick’s Obama biography The Bridge (our review will be up this weekend), you’ll discover for his whole career Obama’s been a slow, cautious, pol, never willing to get too ahead of the electorate. That is no comfort to many here, but the trick is to get him to be more proactive. It’s all about cover, and that will come in two forms: the report of the Defense Department and more centrist to conservative people coming out against the policy.