White House officials and Senator Joseph I. Lieberman ... have suggested that some Republicans are threatening to block the New Start treaty if the military [DADT] repeal goes forward. Such a maneuver "takes us way back to an earlier day when people used to do things like that to stop civil rights laws from passing," Mr. Lieberman said.
This is the sort of despicable tactic we've come to expect from the GOP, but it nicely positions Obama for a campaign of aggressive pushback.
This repeated reminder to his base, however, is in order: President Obama first had to demonstrate, especially to independents, his willingness to engage Republicans in reasonable compromise -- that is, the tax compromise.