Opinion

Letter to the editor: Obama's 'don't ask, don't tell' stand the height of hypocrisy


Published: July 4, 2009

To the editor:

I am angry at Barack Obama, Joe Biden, John Tierney, John Kerry, and, yes, even "Uncle Teddy."

I am disgusted with Nancy Pelosi, Dianne Feinstein, Hillary and Bill Clinton, and dozens of other Democrats I once admired who are revealing themselves to be little more than profiles in political expediency, as opposed to profiles in political courage.

I say that, two nights before I leave to go home to the rainforest, in the wake of the ruling by a military court to dishonorably discharge Lt. Daniel Choi for "moral and professional dereliction."

Lt. Choi is a graduate of West Point. He has served in Iraq leading combat missions. He has labored in Iraqi communities rebuilding schools, clinics and numerous other components of Iraqi civilian infrastructure. In short, Lt. Choi is an exemplary soldier and, with his linguistic skills, an invaluable asset for our country, our military and our interests.

But Lt. Choi is being thrown out of the military he loves, not because he engaged in inappropriate sexual behavior, gay or straight, with another soldier, but simply because he opted to tell the truth and say, "I am gay."

This makes no sense. To be throwing out a soldier of the calibre, and with the skills, of Lt. Daniel Choi is beyond bigoted, stupid or ignorant. It is, in my opinion, downright unpatriotic.

Yet President Obama, and virtually all Democrats in national leadership positions — including our own John Tierney — are remaining strangely silent in the face of this stupidity, bigotry and injustice.

President Obama was more than happy to cash the checks totaling almost $1,000 that I sent his campaign. He paid great lip service to the interests and concerns of the gay community as a candidate but, as president, he has been distant at best and downright condescending and disrespectful at worst to those interests.

He is our commander in chief. With the stroke of his pen he could overturn the discharge of Lt. Choi and end the counterproductive and ignorant policy known as "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," the same way Harry Truman ended the injustice of racial segregation in the military six decades ago. But he will not do it.

Why? For me, as a gay man who fancies himself semi-politically savvy, I believe the answer is Barack Obama is a brilliant politician who fully understands that the gay community is a constituency that remains largely expendable in American politics.

Sure he, and other supposedly "gay friendly" candidates — most of whom are of the faux liberal, concerned about social justice, Democratic variety — love our money and want our votes but, once elected and the political rubber hits the road, they don't hesitate for a minute to sell us down the river.

The irony in all this for me is that, when I stepped back from a decade and a half on the front lines in the fight against AIDS and for gay civil rights, I vowed I was done. The Bush administration was blatantly homophobic. I accepted that. I decided to enjoy my life spending six months on the Costa Rican Caribbean and six months somewhere along New England's coast.

But it is the hypocrisy of the Obama administration, not to mention other Democratic politicians such as John Tierney, that has reignited a fire in my belly and made me realize that, for gay Americans, recognizing our enemies is easy, but discerning who our real friends are is far more difficult.

Lt. Daniel Choi is just the latest proof of that assertion.

Michael Cook

Merrill Street, Newburyport