Obama's 'Long Game' Pays Off on DADT

President Obama exasperated gay activists for what seemed like plodding progress on his promise to repeal Don't Ask, Don't Tell. But that slow pace turned out to be necessary to get it done right—through Congress, not by presidential fiat or through the courts, writes Andrew Sullivan at his Daily Dish blog. (Besides, John McCain has made it clear with his "disgusting bitterness" what would have happened had he won: "Nothing.")

As for the Obama strategy: "Without the Pentagon study, it wouldn't have passed. Without Obama keeping Lieberman inside the tent, it wouldn't have passed. Without the critical relationship between Bob Gates and Obama, it wouldn't have passed. It worked our last nerve; we faced at one point a true nightmare of nothing ... for years. And then we pulled behind this president, making it his victory and the country's victory, as well as ours." (More Don't Ask Don't Tell repeal stories.)