(Thumbnail Image: The Washington Post)

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On Monday, President Obama reached an agreement with Pentagon and congressional leaders to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” which bans gays from serving openly in the military, pending a military review due Dec. 1.

Jim Miklaszewski of NBC News says Democrats knew they had to act before the midterm elections, when they could lose dozens of seats in Congress.

“The Democrats saw the handwriting on the wall, they thought the best chance to repeal ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ was to do it before the November elections and while the Democrats still have control of both houses.”

Defense Secretary Robert Gates commissioned a year-long review of the policy, and issued a statement Tuesday tepidly endorsing Congress’ move.  CNN’s Dana Bash said Gates’ support would be critical in getting some moderate Democrats to support the repeal.

“It sure seems to suggest that the defense secretary, who was never comfortable with Congress moving forward with a repeal of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ before the military finishes its review still isn’t comfortable with this even though the compromise gives the Pentagon a lot of leeway.”

Polling has shown that nearly three-fourths of Americans support a repeal, including a majority of Republicans.  The Washington Post’s Jonathan Capehart says the best plan would be to repeal the act immediately, but this compromise is better than nothing.

“The compromise reached (in) ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ is not the ideal way to allow gay men and lesbians to serve openly in the military. But it's the best way to hasten the demise of a shameful policy.”

However Peter Sprigg of the Family Research Council on MNSBC, says it's “unfair” to require straight soldiers to serve with gays they might be uncomfortable around.  He says allowing gays to serve openly would put soldiers who want all-straight troops in a bad position.

“If we had a policy where people were considered bigoted if they were opposed to same-sex conduct, there would be much greater danger of misconduct on the part of the homosexuals and a greater likelihood that people who object to that would choose not to serve at all.”

The House could pass this legislation by the end of the week, with the Senate following shortly thereafter. The Democrats hold strong majorities in both chambers.
 

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WRITER: Mike Bushnell