Rachel Maddow Says Obama Lacks Guts on "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"

When President Obama promised to end "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell," he could have simply signed an executive order to end the ban. Instead the policy will be repealed only after a Pentagon study gathers information to ensure the move won’t be disruptive.

The Pentagon’s survey on "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" has faced significant criticism from the LGBT community — and rightfully so. The survey, which cost taxpayers $4.4 million, was biased and offensive. Not only that, soldiers are still being discharged as the Pentagon gathers information.

Yesterday, Rachel Maddow criticized the Obama administration for its lack of action to protect LGBT soldiers. She interviewed recently-discharged U.S. Army captain Jonathan Hopkins, West Point cadet Katherine Miller, who just resigned, and Lt. Col. Victor Fehrenbach, who’s fighting against a discharge from the Air Force. After the interviews, Maddow offered her commentary on the issue.

While the Pentagon is collecting its surveys, Maddow says: “we as a country are continuing to put the lives of these individuals through the meat grinder every day.”

Maddow makes a valid point — even if the information the Pentagon is collecting was valuable, why doesn’t Obama order that, meanwhile, soldiers aren’t kicked out for being gay? While the administration is waiting for official Pentagon views on "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell," soldiers are being wrongfully discharged. One would think that Obama, who has openly stated that repealing "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" is “the right thing to do,” would recognize that allowing the continuous discharge of soldiers is wrong.

But Obama has allowed this to go on. According to Maddow, stopping "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" would "take some political capital, that would take some guts.” Some guts that Obama apparently doesn’t have.

Check out the video of Maddow's spot after the jump.

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