I like Greg Sargent’s thesis about Congress’ — and particularly the GOP’s — blinkered approach to addressing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.
Is it possible that one of the things holding up repeal is that many people simply haven’t had an up-close view of the ugliness of anti-gay bigotry, and aren’t willing to believe the push for equality for gays is on a moral par with other major civil rights battles?
The one caveat I would offer is that this extends far beyond DADT, to everything from racial profiling, to unemployment, to foreclosures, and beyond. Right now, with unemployment at nearly 10 percent, this same group of people has let unemployment benefits expire, while they figure out a way to extend tax cuts to the wealthiest one-percent of the country, screech emptily about deficits, and so on. That’s reflective of partisanship, the political power of the wealthy, and other influences. But it’s also because most of the key actors haven’t spent a lot of time with poor people.
