The Senate has yet to vote as a full body, but today is the day that Don't Ask Don't Tell died.

DADT has been hard for me to watch. Many people criticized the Obama administration for being slow to act, but after the State of the Union, where he called for repeal, and the Defense Secretary and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff come out the next week supporting repeal, it was clear to me that he'd spent that time building consensus inside the military to repeal it. That consensus has been absolutely necessary, both for elected officials to cover their ass, but also on its face - actual assurance from the military that its leadership will faithfully implement the changes and bring its rank and file on board. Most importantly, that consensus transformed the narrative around DADT from hot-button to inevitable.

Then, many people criticized the Obama administration for saying they wanted to wait until the military's one year review was complete before repealing the law, and that it would never get done if that happened. While waiting that year might have made it electorally harder, I honestly think that it is well within the military's right to do that review, and gives a necessary period for all levels of the military to come around and get ready for a peaceful transition. Most importantly, the Pentagon made it clear that the review was meant to figure out how to do it, not whether to do it. That was the correct framing, and it should be taken seriously.

So the major "compromise" that the amendments passed in the Senate committee and the House today have, which is that the repeal takes effect contingent upon the completion of the review and the signoff of Obama and the Defense Secretary and the Joint Chiefs, is no compromise at all - it's exactly what should happen. Congress should declare that Don't Ask Don't Tell is done, and the military should have some capacity to control how this is accomplished.

That has always seemed like the right balance to me. Though I absolutely understand the gay rights community's impatience with movement on DADT, and have felt it myself at various points, I just don't see how this could have been done any more smoothly. DADT will be repealed in the Senate, the momentum is far too great - even Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska is on board with this. I hope people remember Obama's work on DADT with great pride, and as a decisive, unwavering achievement of a campaign promise, because I firmly believe that is what it is.