Taegan Goddard's Political Wire

October 11, 2009

Obama Repeats Pledge on Gays in the Military

Last night, the Wall Street Journal sent a breaking news alert that President Obama would repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" and allow gay men and lesbians to serve openly in the military. However, the New York Times notes this morning that Obama "failed to offer a timetable for doing so, an omission likely to inflame critics who say he is not fighting aggressively enough for gay rights."

Andrew Sullivan: "All I can say is: the president gave a speech he could have given at any point in the last three years. No one in that room could disagree with any of the things he said. I sure don't (with the exception of the hate crimes hooey). And he said it well and movingly. Like we didn't know he could do that. But the point of electing a president who pledged to actually do things is to hold him to account, and to see if he is willing to take any risk of any kind to actually do something. I had a few prior tests of his seriousness or signs that he gets it, a few ways to judge if this speech had anything new or specific or clear. He failed every test."

John Aravosis: "What's particularly disturbing is how President Obama contradicts himself, and his own administration, when talking to a gay crowd."

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Taegan D. Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites.

Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.

Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country, including the Washington Post, USA Today, Boston Globe, San Francisco Chronicle, Chicago Tribune, Philadelphia Inquirer and Christian Science Monitor.

Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.

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