That's why the secretary of Defense and the Joint Chiefs of Staff insisted that the program be ended. Clinton acted bravely in going along with the Pentagon on this cut, even though the huge bloc of California electoral votes is at stake. But that might have exhausted his courage quotient. If Magic Johnson can play in the NBA, being HIV-infected ought not to automatically end a military career. Not good enough.
Leadership means standing firm against the forces of meanness and ignorance.
For the same reason, Clinton should have refused to sign the telecommunications bill until Congress removed the provisions that flagrantly violate the 1st Amendment's guarantee of free speech. Here again, the president held his nose and expressed the hope that the courts would strike the ban on discussions of abortion and the dangerously loose wording on obscenity on the Net. There is no shortage of inexpensive software programs that parents can buy to censor their children's use of the Net if they deem that wise. On the other hand, they might want to leave the sex bait out there as an inducement to have their kids discover all of the truly informative stuff on the Net. That was my experience.