So apparently this evening, President Obama will call on Congress to rescind “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” The position of the administration is that this policy cannot be revoked by the executive branch alone.

(Keep in mind, I’m a bit of a squish on this issue. If you told me the guy who was the best pilot and who had the best shot of putting a J-DAM bomb on the Iranian nuclear program’s main facility was Harvey Fierstein, I’d say get that goatee airborne over Persian skies pronto.)

But the politics of this issue are pretty clear, and so after pledging to repeal DADT and pledging and promising and promising, Obama’s big step on this issue for the gay community is to say, “Now is precisely the moment for all of you red-state and red-district Democrats to vote to end ‘don’t ask, don’t tell,’ nine months before an election that’s already looking miserable for our side.” Somehow, I suspect they’ll be less than fully enthusiastic.

Back when Jon Stewart did stand-up, he did a bit about Bela Karolyi, the U.S. gymnastics coach at the 1996 Olympics (“You can do it, Kerri! You can do it! I cannot do it! You can do it!”). Obama’s turning into that; going before members of his party and telling them to take political risks that he’s not willing to do himself.

The crowd at AmericaBlog seem pretty underwhelmed by the president’s willingness to stick his neck out on this issue.