Gibbs: Army Secretary Nominee Favors DADT Change (The Advocate)

[pinto]

I know little about the nominee, but apparently the Advocate asked Gibbs about DADT at today's WH press briefing. ~ pinto

Gibbs: Army Secretary Nominee Favors DADT Change
By Kerry Eleveld / The Advocate

http://www.advocate.com/news_detail_ektid87814.asp

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Tuesday that President Barack Obama's nominee for secretary of the Army, Republican representative John McHugh, agrees with the president that "don't ask, don't tell" should be changed.

<snip>

Full text of the exchange is below:

The Advocate: On the nomination of Representative McHugh, last year, during the "don't ask, don't tell" hearings, he expressed a deep desire to move forward with a review of the policy and he said, "I would hope and encourage both the Department of Defense and the various services to reconsider the reluctance they have displayed to this point." Was a review of the policy something that the president took into consideration with this nomination and will Congressman McHugh be encouraged to move forward with talks inside the department?

Gibbs: I think it's obvious from those statements and other statements that Congressman McHugh has made that he and the president are in agreement on changing the policy they both don't think is working for this country right now. And it's a priority of the president's and I think for any number of reasons we have a nominee that we hope will be confirmed quickly and will have -- ah, based on his background and experience -- will help to improve the lives of the Army.

http://www.advocate.com/news_detail_ektid87814.asp

[FreeState]

1. Hmm thats interesting... Im hoping for some movement on this and fast - but the words they use give

me pause... "change" the policy? Dont they mean end it? There seems to be a shift in verbiage from Obama as well...

From his proclamation:

"ending the existing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy in a way that strengthens our Armed Forces and our national security."

How do you end it in a way that strengthens our Armed Forces? That implies coming up with a new policy rather than just simply ending DADT...

[joeybee12]

2. Gibbs is a spokesperson...uses lots of words to say nothing...

...comes with the job.

[TheWraith]

3. I think you're reading way too much into those quotes.

Any time that you do something different than you've done before, you're "changing" policy. And the second quote pretty clearly is saying to the worry warts that he's not going to do anything that's going to implode the military.