UPDATED

Here’s the portion of Obama’s State of the Union speech that mentions “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”:

“My Administration has a Civil Rights Division that is once again prosecuting civil rights violations and employment discrimination. We finally strengthened our laws to protect against crimes driven by hate. This year, I will work with Congress and our military to finally repeal the law that denies gay Americans the right to serve the country they love because of who they are. It’s the right thing to do.”

No real specifics. We better get some soon. Considering that the Defense Dept. asked Levin to delay this week’s hearings because of the President’s speech, I expected him to have some sort of an announcement that might have offered a reason for the delay, but in his speech Obama just seemed to repeat the status quo. If they had allowed the hearings to proceed this week, Obama could have said, “Hearings are underway to repeal this discriminatory policy,” which, with his intentions, would have made a much stronger statement imho.

John McCain came out almost immediately after the speech with a statement against the repeal of DADT. Here’s what he said:

“In his State of the Union address, President Obama asked Congress to repeal the ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy. I am immensely proud of, and thankful for, every American who wears the uniform of our country, especially at a time of war, and I believe it would be a mistake to repeal the policy. This successful policy has been in effect for over fifteen years, and it is well understood and predominantly supported by our military at all levels. We have the best trained, best equipped, and most professional force in the history of our country, and the men and women in uniform are performing heroically in two wars. At a time when our Armed Forces are fighting and sacrificing on the battlefield, now is not the time to abandon the policy.”

Full prepared remarks here.

What did you think of the speech as a whole? Watch it all, AFTER THE JUMP…