DADT, Obama and the no-win situation

With growing impatience at the reluctance of Congress to address the future of Dont Ask, Dont Tell, suit was filed in Federal Court to goad them into action by declaring the law unconstitutional. The matter finally reached the 9th Circuit and was declared just that a month ago. Now the judge has further ordered that enforcement cease world-wide. This is an interesting suit because, like many, it effects the political landscape of the upcoming election from several angles but all of them seem to end badly for President Obama and the Democrats. 

The "gay lobby" has become increasingly restless over the last year at the failure of President Obama to act affirmatively on any of the issues he claimed (either implicitly or explicitly) to champion in 2008. His only gay-rights action to date has been the extension of benefits to same sex couples in federal employ. He has offered lip service as of late, particularly on the issue of DADT, but when the time came to transfer words into action, Obama offered little in the way of Executive muscle to power the issue to a vote in the last session of Congress. 

What complicates the issue of this ruling is that Obama must make the decision on whether the Justice Department should appeal the decision since it is a matter of Federal Policy. The clock is ticking and I do not see pushing it off until after the election to be the answer because he needs something to motivate the young voters to show up in November. He already has asked Justice to appeal the decision declaring the Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional, but it would me more likely for him to refuse to appeal this decision because it is a policy he is on the record as opposing where he has stated that he does not support gay marriage.

Further complicating the question is the fact that the suit was brought by the Log Cabin Republicans, the nations most prominent conservative gay advocacy group. Thus the Republicans Party can have their cake and eat it too, forcing Obama into making a decision he would rather not make. The timing could not be better and I anticipate that Obama will be forced to not appeal, but still have to loose the initiative on his issue which is so important to many of his supporters.