Rep. Alcee Hastings to Obama: What’s the Plan on DADT, Man? No, Really?

Sure, the president and his subordinates have told you they want a legislative repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, but there doesn’t seem to be any movement from the White House actually encouraging legislators to do so. When it comes to the Pentagon, it’s all but sitting on its hands. But surely, when an elected member of Congress asks the president “Uh, WTF?,” he’ll get an answer, right?

Wrong.

Florida Rep. Alcee Hastings went public again Thursday with a letter to Obama, asking him why, after reaching out two months ago, he’s yet to receive anything concrete back from the White House.

You’ll recall that Hastings added, and then one day later rescinded an amendment to the Defense Department’s budget bill that would have instructed it not to spend one more penny investigating DADT dismissals, effectively killing the policy while leaving it on the books. But at the last moment, “pressure” from Democratic colleagues kept him from pushing for the legislation. Then he went on record, noting the lines of communication to kill the amendment went all the way up to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

So there Hastings was Thursday, typing up a letter to the president, reminding him more than 75 reps in Congress have asked him to halt DADT investigations — to no avail. “While I commend Secretary [Robert] Gates and the Pentagon’s general counsel for their continued efforts to identify possible provisional measures, you can take action right now,” he writes. “I sincerely hope that your administration will make ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ a priority and do everything in its power to repeal this ridiculous, bigoted law once and for all.”

Amen.