Don't Ask, Don't Tell

I wonder why Obama is backpedaling on the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell.

Now seems like the perfect time to do it. Obama is extremely popular. Gays are making incredibly rapid progress toward equal rights. By most accounts, the military does not have the fight in it to mobilize against this. It's the right thing to do.

I don't even think it would cost him that much political capital--the people really opposed to this hate him anyway and while this might annoy some older voters, everyone recognizes that gay rights are not just a thing of the future, but of the present too.