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Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Hot Potato!

Does anyone remember Trent Lott? He was the Senate Majority Leader when President Bush took office. He then complimented the doddering old man of the Senate, namely Strom Thurmond. It was a tempest the size of which is not often seen in Washington. It was big enough to fit in a tea cup. He said “When Strom Thurmond ran for president, we voted for him. We’re proud of it. And if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn’t have had all these problems over the years, either.” In all honesty, probably not. In fact, no one really cared about it. Senator Lott had just made the usual statement concerning a man who was, at the time, just this side of older than dirt. However, President Bush needed to eliminate Senator Lott. He needed Lott out of the way because, quite frankly, Senator Lott had a lot of power, and Bill Frist, his replacement, did not.

Could a similar situation be growing between the current Administration and the Senate? In what could be called a case of political hot potato, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reed has handed off responsibility for the Military Readiness Enhancement Act or MREA and its repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell to the White House. Reed, a Mormon, could be handing off responsibility due to problems at home in Nevada, and certainly problems with the Mormon Church who, despite their claims of being only against same-sex marriage, seem to be far more willing to go after homosexuality in general. However, while there are problems in Nevada for Reed, no Republicans have stepped forward to take him on.

Senator Reed made it clear that this could easily be tackled with an executive order after he made his speech. He did this through his staff.

It also seems rather odd that no Senator is willing to take this on. Certainly Senator Leahy, who is currently shepherding the bill to allow American gays and lesbians to sponsor in their foreign partners through Committee, has always been friendly to the LGBTI community. It seems unlikely that there is no one who can use this as a means by which to use

This is one of those cases where the leadership on this may come from Representative Joe Sestak in the House. Reed has stated that he is willing to take this up if the House passes their measure, and White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs has stated that the Administration believes that the only way to take DADT down is through legislation.

Certainly what could be happening is something of a battle back and forth between the White House, the House of Representatives and the Senate as to who is actually steering this ship.