Happy Mission Accomplished Day. It’s been seven years!!
Defense Secretary Gates has sent a letter to House Armed Services chairman Ike Skelton (D-MO), strongly opposing any effort to repeal Don’t Ask Don’t Tell (DADT) before the Pentagon has a chance to complete their review of the policy and develop a plan for implementation of a phase out. On the one hand, Gates clearly states that the policy will be phased out. On the other hand, this makes it very unlikely that it will be phased out this year. Gates’s excuse is that he wants the military community to have the opportunity to provide their “concerns, insights, and suggestions” prior to the change in policy going into effect. I know this is frustrating and it means more injustice in the interim, but I do think the administration will get this done next year. In the meantime, it would be a good idea to pass the Employee Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) this year as proof of good faith.
The president is giving the commencement address this morning at the University of Michigan:
President Barack Obama has some advice for the class of 2010: Don’t get caught up in the partisan trench warfare that often consumes Washington and use your talents instead to help America confront its biggest challenges.
Obama’s homily on the imperatives of citizenship comes in a speech Saturday at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.At the same time, 45 miles away, Sarah Palin is set to denounce the president as a big-government Democrat whose free-spending ways will bankrupt the country.
Nice juxtaposition, no?
Mark Halperin asks the question on every American’s lips:
Will President Obama use the White House Correspondents Dinner [tonight] to try to soften the “Obama hates the press/the press hates Obama” meme — or reinforce it?
Jay Leno will be doing the roast. Does he have the same kind of Giant Panda Balls of Steel displayed by Stephen Colbert in 2006?
If you like what we do here at the Frog Pond, please consider making a donation. I depend on your generosity to keep this place running.
