As I mentioned in the open thread, President Obama is meeting with Secretary of Defense Robert Gates this morning. Hopefully, they’ll be discussing a strategy to secure passage of the Defense bill, which includes the DADT language.

Time is running out. The President needs to step up if we’re going to pass the DADT language this year, as promised. Today, John and I launched a sign on letter urging President Obama to fully engage in this process. We sent this email to our AMERICAblog list. We hope you’ll join us in signing this open letter to the President that we will then deliver to the White House on your behalf:

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs recently told reporters that President Obama hasn’t made any calls to wavering senators in support of repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell — which will soon be voted on in the Senate. What’s he waiting for? At a recent meeting between President Obama and progressive bloggers, Joe Sudbay personally told the president about our widespread disappointment over his failure to fulfill his campaign promises, including repeal of DADT. Today, we’re asking you to help us show that this sentiment is real by joining our open letter that we’ll personally deliver to the White House.



Click here to join us in telling President Obama to put some skin in the game and call senators in support of repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell — now. In September, when John McCain was leading the filibuster against the Defense Authorization bill, which includes the DADT language, President Obama didn’t make one phone call to Capitol Hill. But he did find time that day to call the WNBA champs. With the Defense bill being brought up again in the next few weeks, we need President Obama’s leadership once again — this is not the time for him to be MIA. He promised to be our fierce advocate. Let’s tell him: We need his fierce advocacy now on this issue. If we don’t repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell now, we all lose. It would be a “political disaster” for President Obama, according to The Hill newspaper. LGBT voters know that it could be years before we get another chance at passing anything pro-gay at the federal level. And Democrats learned this past November what happens when they leave their base disillusioned. None of us can afford to miss this window of opportunity. So please join us in telling President Obama to start calling senators now in support of repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. Click here — then, share with friends. The stakes are high. Thanks for joining us in this fight.

We want to help prevent this political disaster, which will be a loss for our servicemembers, our national security, the President and our country.

Add your voice to the letter. Sign here.