Gillibrand may offer DADT repeal amendment this week in Senate

Great, but.... there'd better be a damn good strategy for victory. You win these battles not just by trying, but by doing all the legwork leading up to the actual vote. It's a concern I've raised before, all the way back when I was complaining about the last minute effort to filibuster the FISA bill. Pulling off legislative victories takes real organizing, real strategy. You can't just blow an issue off for a year, or 15, and then come waltzing in and expect to get the legislation passed. You need to prepare, lobby, organize the grassroots, have a media strategy. This is Joe's and my concern about Obama's never-ending "tomorrow" when it comes to following through on his major gay rights promises. The real problem isn't that Obama is delaying following through on the promises, but rather, that there's no sign of any strategy to get us to the point where the Congress and the American people will eventually support Obama following through on those promises.

Bill Clinton's mistake on DADT, one of them, was letting the issue get ahead of him when he didn't have a strategy for success. If Gillibrand offers this amendment later this week, she needs to have a darn good strategy for getting the votes, lest a loss on DADT kill the issue for next several years.