At the Groundhog Day Senate Armed Services Committee hearings on the current Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Admiral Mike Mullen gave a full-throated endorsement to the President's appeal to Congress to reverse that policy.  He knocked it out of the park.

He did think it might take a year to 'study the implementation' and work out details, but this is huge.  Secretary Gates' testimony supported it, but IMO, without the same verve.

Thank you, President Obama, for including this issue in the State of the Union. 

The number of votes to pass it will depend on the avenues chosen for enactment, perhaps the Defense Authorization bill; there may be others.  There are already some creepy politics about it (especially John McCain) but for now, for today--I'd like to celebrate this quiet revolution.  And pay my respects to the thirteen thousand-plus gay and lesbian service members who have been discharged under this plan since its inception in 1993; over thirteen thousand for whom it really wasn't working that well.

Here is part of the transcript on Mullen's testimony about his personal views:

MULLEN: Mr. Chairman, speaking for myself and myself only, it is my personal belief that allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly would be the right thing to do. No matter how I look at this issue, I cannot escape being troubled by the fact that we have in place a policy that forces young men and women to lie about who they are in order to defend their fellow citizens. For me, personally, it comes down to integrity -- theirs as individuals, and ours as an institution.

I also believe that the great young men and women of our military can and would accommodate such a change. I never underestimate their ability to adapt.

But I do not know this for a fact, nor do I know for a fact how we would best make such a major policy change in a time of two wars. That there will be some disruption in the force, I cannot deny. [...]

Sen. Sessions, I think it is approximately correct, but it does, again, go to a fundamental principle with me, which is, everybody counts. And part of the struggle back to the institutional integrity aspect of this --

SESSIONS: I know, I'm privy to your views --

MULLEN: -- and putting individuals in a position that every single day, they wonder whether today is going to be the day, and devaluing them in that regard just is inconsistent with us as an institution. I have served with homosexuals since 1968. Sen. McCain spoke to that in his statement. Everybody in the military has. And we understand that. So it is a number of things which cumulatively, for me personally, get me to this position.

And here is the video; the full statement is up on the right, also:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBT0OSfgHOU