Andrew Sullivan comments on President Obama‘s lack of courage on Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell:

I wonder how Obama would have felt if Truman had followed the same path of cowardice and convenience in 1948, when racial integration was far more contentious in the military than gay integration is today. Or whether he would have applauded if the NAACP had decided that inter-racial marriage was too big a step for them in 1967 and they’d be content with calling it a “civil union.” On the matter of civil rights in his own time, alas, the first black president has so far demonstrated the courage of a Clinton.

I sympathize. The ban on gay servicemembers serving openly is an inexcusable relic of intolerance, and Obama has shown political cowardice by failing to challenge it. But is it really possible that Sullivan can take even a cursory glance at black history and not see that these kinds of frustrating positions were taken by black leaders all the time during the struggle for civil rights? Is it even possible for him to take a cursory glance at his own blogmate and not realize that? What happened before 1967, or 1948? How many humiliating, failed compromises were made? One recalls W.E.B. DuBois‘ call for black folks to “close ranks” during World War I and accept the indignities of a segregated military, a charge for which he was called a traitor by other black activists.

The other problem I have with Sullivan’s argument is the suggestion that Obama being black makes him more of a coward for dragging his feet on DADT. It’s a strange argument–based on this premise one could argue that racial bigotry from whites is inoffensive because they simply don’t know better. Black folks meanwhile, having a history of oppression, are therefore more responsible when they fail to be tolerant or enlightened. Of course, the same could then be said of Sullivan, that whatever prejudice he struggles with is more reprehensible because he is gay, and therefore, he should know better. But that seems like a strange standard to set, and evocative of the very prejudice being criticized.

— A. Serwer