At today’s MTV Town Hall, President Obama answered a question about why he can’t, “with the stroke of a pen,” end “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”
Wonkroom’s Igor Volsky has this to add:
“Obama stressed that he’s been able to convince Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mike Mullen to support repeal and promised that the policy would end “on my watchâ€
“LGBT activists and Democratic lawmakers however, have argued that Obama could use his stop-loss authority to issue an order prohibiting the Secretary of Defense from establishing, implementing, or applying any personnel or administrative policies on the basis of sexual orientation or, alternatively, fail to appeal the recent federal district court ruling if he believes that the policy was unconstitutional. Obama, however, has previously said that it is.”