McHugh hints at repealing Don't Ask Don't Tell

By GottaLaff

Yes please, good move, tantalizing hint-- now move on it

While [Army Secretary] McHugh still intends to refrain from publicizing his own personal view on the issue until his confirmation hearings, yesterday in an interview with Roll Call, he hinted that he believes it’s time to repeal the ban:

“I have no interest as either a Member of Congress or as … secretary of the Army to exclude by some categorization a group of people otherwise qualified to serve,” McHugh told Roll Call.

He noted that the Armed Services Committee has not considered the policy “in any formal way” since 1993. In the meantime, “certainly, the recruiting-age population’s views have changed on that whole matter,” he said.

Obama’s Army Secretary Pick Co-Sponsored Bill To Obstruct Gitmo Closing

By GottaLaff

John McHugh, President Obama's nominee to be secretary of the Army, is a Republican, so IMHO, this is not surprising:

He was a co-sponsor of the House GOP leadership’s bill designed to obstruct the closing of Guantanamo Bay. That puts the nominee for Army Secretary directly at odds with the President on a top national security priority.

But isn't this Prez O's M.O.? He often chooses people who disagree with him, or who disagree with us. Or who disagree with each other...

As ranking member of Armed Services, McHugh co-sponsored the so-called “Keep Terrorists Out Of America Act,” which proposed placing a bunch of bureaucratic hurdles in the way of efforts to release the Gitmo detainees. At the time, McHugh claimed the bill’s ultimate purpose was not necessarily to block the closing of the facility. But in the real world, that’s precisely what it was designed to do. [...]

[I]t’s one thing for a GOPer to fall in line and vote for it. It’s another to co-sponsor it, as McHugh did.

To be clear, McHugh’s nomination won’t threaten Obama’s efforts to close the facility. But it does show that in the quest to be bipartisan and keep the Pentagon stocked with Republicans, the President picked an Army Secretary aggressively at odds with him on a policy so important that Obama announced it on his second day.

Now then, isn't that pretty much what I just said?

Obama to Name Republican N.Y. Congressman the Army Secretary

No matter what you think about his other moves, stuff like this is undoubtedly three dimensional chess.

Representative John M. McHugh, a Republican congressman from New York, will be nominated by President Obama to be secretary of the Army, according to officials, as the administration continues to reach into the ranks of the opposition for executive appointments.

Mr. Obama formally offered the Pentagon position to the lawmaker on Monday afternoon, and his nomination is expected to be announced later on Tuesday, officials said. Mr. McHugh would join former House Republican colleague Ray LaHood of Illinois, the secretary of transportation, in the Obama administration.

The nine-term House member, who represents a sprawling northern New York district that includes the Fort Drum Army base, is the senior Republican on the Armed Services Committee and has a solid reputation with members of both parties for his knowledge of military affairs. He also serves on the Board of Visitors for the United States Military Academy at West Point.