Rachel Maddow reported tonight that the DADT case the Supreme Court rejected today was totally irrelevant to overturning the military law, and that the rejected case absolutely was not the one LGBT activists wanted to see brought up before the Supremes. Yet she's continuing to indict the president on the issue despite the above considerations and without really addressing the political timing.
I agree, of course, that DADT needs to be reversed with gusto. What makes me nervous is doing so at the peril of other high priority agenda items at this particular moment like healthcare and energy -- agenda items that require congressional support and votes. And as soon as the president acts on this, it's a three alarm red alert throughout the village and it becomes the story for weeks on end, potentially derailing those other priorities.
There's only so much capital, even for a president at 60-70 percent. And healthcare, to name one, will require every bit of capital he can muster.
The president clearly has an agenda that he's planning to stick with. Good for him. The Clinton administration, on the other hand, was plagued by a lack of direction, scattered focus and no real agenda discipline. Zigging and zigging based on what was polling well that particular week. This isn't President Obama's style. Far from it.
Crushing DADT is extraordinarily important. But it's not the only thing on the plate.