Obama Interview With Military Times Part: 10 - Repeal Don’t Ask Don’t Tell
Obama talks about repealing the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, pointing out the success of our British and Israeli counterparts and our need for personnel.
Q: Senator, if I may, “don’t ask don’t tell,” you want to repeal it. Why isn’t the policy working?
A: There are equity issues involved, but there are also effectiveness issues involved. And I think that at a time when we are pressed, we should have an attitude of “all hands on deck.” If we can’t field enough Arab linguists, we shouldn’t be preventing an Arab linguist from serving his or her country because of what they do in private. I think [retired Army] Gen. John Shalikashvili’s assessment is right, that people’s attitudes have evolved. You’ve got our British counterparts and Israeli counterparts without this policy, and nobody would suggest that they have had problems on the ground.
I want to make sure that we are doing it in a thoughtful and principled way. But I do believe that at a time when we are short-handed, that everybody who is willing to lay down their lives on behalf of the United States, and can do so effectively, can perform critical functions, should have the opportunity to do so.
Q: How do you get the military leadership to go along with that?
A: Well, I’m a pretty persuasive guy [smiles, laughter]. I think we have to distinguish whether there are functional barriers to doing this, and are people prepared for the political heat.
PDF file of Complete Interview
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