The World Changes
Posted on December 19th, 2010 in Uncategorized | 9 Comments »
As several commenters below have noted, the Senate repealed the odious “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy yesterday, paving the way for gays to serve openly in the U.S. military.
I’m not a fan of Joe Lieberman, as you may know, but he deserves props here; he’s been a forceful advocate of repeal. (Just to remind you of why I can’t stand him: He also suggested that the New York Times should be prosecuted for publishing articles related to the Wikileaks documents. Argh.)
Unfortunately, at the same time Republicans in the Senate blocked what has become known as the Dream Act, legislation that would establish a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants who came to the country as children. Drew Faust has been a supporter of the bill.
Still, the DADT repeal is a watershed in the nation’s civil rights history…
“I don’t care who you love,” Senator Ron Wyden, Democrat of Oregon, said as the debate opened. “If you love this country enough to risk your life for it, you shouldn’t have to hide who you are.”
…and marks the for-all-intents-and-purposes end to John McCain’s career as a credible public figure.
“I hope that when we pass this legislation that we will understand that we are doing great damage,” Mr. McCain said. “And we could possibly and probably, as the commandant of the Marine Corps said, and as I have been told by literally thousands of members of the military, harm the battle effectiveness vital to the survival of our young men and women in the military.”
Once President Obama signs the bill, it will presumably have rapid ripple effects—such as the return to Harvard of ROTC. That action will ease a profound social tension for the university, whose stand on principle cost it amidst the broader culture, and for its president, who gets to oversee an act that costs nothing but brings enormous rewards. One thing you have to say about Drew Faust: Her life has been marked by a propensity to be in the right place at the right time.
Is it possible, by the way, that by the time November 2012 rolls around, the American public will realize that Barack Obama has been the most effective, active, accomplished American president since FDR??
9 Responses
12/19/2010 9:51 am
Or he might be like LBJ- great social legislation but felled by a war he should have acted more decisively toward ending.
12/19/2010 10:29 am
Yes, it is time for Harvard to re-establish the ROTC program on campus, and Drew Faust will be recognized for her leadership in doing this.
12/19/2010 11:14 am
It’s not al that easy to reestablish a program like ROTC - first, the military services have to want it there, and they might be just fine with MIT being the local base. Then ou have to figure out how students get credit for military courses, establish resident professors of military science - will FAS go for that? Both sides - Harvard and services - might decide the status quo is just fine.
12/19/2010 12:10 pm
It was sad watching John McCain making his pitch to be remembered for being on the wrong side of history.
12/19/2010 12:13 pm
Same year as Richard! Different spouse.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/19/fashion/weddings/19BENJAMIN.html?emc=tnt&tntemail0=y
12/19/2010 2:02 pm
Obama’s extraordinary confidence in dealing with military advice during the Afghanistan decision-making process sets him apart decisively from LBJ, who was intimidated by his advisors on foreign policy.
Never thought I’d say this, but thank God for the surge, or, more precisely, for the Petraeus strategy, which allowed withdrawal with (the domestic-politics equivalent of) honor from Iraq at least for the Democrat who might otherwise have been mau-maued brutally.
If Obama can get us truly started on a sustainable 21st-century economy he will rival FDR, and easily be our fourth-best president. (Although I may need to revisit the bonus Washington always gets for just understanding the office first.)
The repeal of DADT guarantees Obama a B+ from me unless he starts a nuclear or (crypto) religious war.
Standing Eagle
12/19/2010 4:43 pm
I think Obma was intimidated by his generals, or else we wouldn’t have that compromise figure of 60,000 troops in A’stan - it would be much less (Biden) or more (Petraeus). Going halfsies means he caved - suggesting his real instincts were with Biden, but felt he couldn’t deal with military pushback if he went that low.
12/19/2010 9:15 pm
I think there were substantive elements to the strategy, too, not just the choice of a number.
Anyway: still glowing about the repeal!
12/20/2010 1:53 pm
The best American Presidents of all time… that’s an interesting debate. I wonder if current Republicans would still consider Lincoln one of their own… or TR for that matter.