In coverage that illuminates the incompetence of the administration in juggling the various constituencies and policy initiatives during the first year, Kerry Eleveld of The Advocate’s “Universal Stagnation” hits the nail on the head as the push for immigration reform reveals a sadly similar approach by the administration when it came to moving on LGBT legislation:

But in echoes from legislative battles past, prior to meeting with the president, [Lindsey] Graham told Politico, “At the end of the day, the president needs to step it up a little bit. One line in the State of the Union is not going to do it.”

Sound familiar? Not only could this sentiment be directly applied to the battle to repeal “don’t ask, don’t tell,” but it more or less sums up health care reform as well. Sure, the administration has been overt about making health legislation its signature item, but the president didn’t actually commit the details of his own bill to paper until the end of last month. In other words, for the better part of a year, the White House effectively sidestepped calls from the Hill for more involvement in the effort.

But when it comes down to it, there’s really no excuse for passivity and a Congress afraid of governing.

A combination of the administration’s passive approach to guiding the legislative process and health reform sucking up all the air in the room has left a trail of flailing legislative efforts in its wake.

As for the lack of movement on LGBT bills, the same Hill insider added, “It’s more a problem of competence than political malice,” a conclusion many progressive political operatives have been reaching.

But even though the administration isn’t solely to blame for the inertia, what we do know is that an extra nudge from the White House can put pro-equality legislation on the front burner. It’s no secret that the hate-crimes measure started to move in the Senate last year after President Obama placed a personal call to Majority Leader Harry Reid.

The bombshell, though, is that Kerry spoke to Barney Frank and despite all of the progress on the PR front re: DADT in the last several weeks, the Obama administration has no intention of pushing for repeal either as a standalone bill or in defense re-authorization this year. Our issues are getting punted into next year — an election year — where spines turn to jellyfish.

As Rep. Barney Frank told me Friday, “I’m disappointed with the administration talking about delaying legislation for a year. But I’m working with Patrick Murphy [the lead sponsor of the House repeal bill] on it and I’m hoping we can push ahead.”

Like many pro-repeal advocates, Frank has consistently pinpointed the National Defense Authorization Act as “the only vehicle” for overturning the ban legislatively. When I noted that the White House has failed to designate the defense authorization bill over a stand-alone bill as its preferred method for repealing the policy, Frank responded, “That’s because they don’t want it done this year, not because they want it done separately.”