Almost every weeknight, I try to catch "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" at 11 p.m.
For whatever reason, I'm a fan of the show that serves mainly to highlight the absurdities of the system we have established in Washington, D.C.
It's a comedy show, yet research from the Pew Research Center found that regular viewers of "The Daily Show" and its counterpart "The Colbert Report" are more informed on current events than listeners, viewers, or readers of any other media source. It's a funny yet sad indictment of our political culture.
Back in May of last year, "The Daily Show" did a segment on Lt. Dan Choi, a West Point graduate who had just been discharged from the U.S. Army for being gay, in accordance with the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy. Lt. Choi was a higher profile case than normal, simply because he was an Arabic translator, one of 59 who had been discharged because of his sexual orientation.
At the time Stewart said, "So it was okay to waterboard a guy over 80 times, but God forbid that the guy who could understand what he was saying have a boyfriend."
From the policy's inception in the mid-90s, Sen. John McCain (R–Ariz.) had been a staunch supporter of the program. McCain vowed in 2006 to change his opinion on the issue if senior military leadership called for the end of the policy.
Well, two weeks ago Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen, the highest ranking military officer in the country, called for a repeal of "don't ask, don't tell." Sen. McCain's reaction? He no longer stands by his vow to change his position, even though military leadership has.
How convenient for him. It's amazing what a tough election cycle can do to one's principles, if you want to call them that. John McCain — a true profile in courage.
McCain's objection, supposedly, is that the military's cohesiveness and effectiveness would be diminished if openly gay people were allowed to serve. The idea of military cohesiveness is one that's been used quite often, but it really has very little merit.
The argument for basic civil rights should outweigh any misplaced idea about military policy. How does firing Arab linguists when we're spread out over the Middle East make any sense at all from a military perspective?
No doubt cohesiveness was affected quite a bit by President Harry Truman's decision to end segregation in the military, but we did it, and the world didn't end. No doubt, just about everyone would agree with that decision, and those that didn't at the time ended up on the wrong side of history.
Days ago, on ABC's Sunday morning show "This Week," former Vice President Dick Cheney endorsed a repeal of the DADT policy. Call me cynical, but this doesn't strike me as any sudden moral conviction.
Instead, it strikes me as an attempt to put himself on the right side of history on at least one issue. If he really cared at all about the issue, he could've and would've done something to stop the purging of gay people from the military while he was vice president. He sees the writing on the wall and knows that in the end, the side of civil rights will prevail once again, and in 50 years we'll look in disbelief at those who were so wrong on an issue that was so simple and clear-cut.
As of this writing, there's a bill circulating Congress that would repeal the DADT policy. Sponsored by Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D–R.I.), the bill already has 187 co-sponsors. President Barack Obama has stated that a bill repealing the policy, if passed by Congress, would promptly be signed into law.
In the meantime, some steps have been taken to ease the transition. After sitting on the sidelines last year, the administration is becoming more vocal and involved, and Choi has been called back to train with his previous unit.
Popular opinion, which always lags behind in cases of civil rights, has greatly shifted in the last 15 years. At this point, it's just a matter of time.
Write to Michael at mgkarafin@bsu.edu.
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