Commander in Chief...of most

Tim Pawlenty, an as-of-yet undeclared Presidential aspirant on the Republican side, has come out to call for repeal of repealing Don't Ask/Don't Tell. He has gone so far as to say it should be "unfunded". (As an aside, I'm not sure what is left to "fund". If anything DA/DT cost the government money. Unless he's thinking about the dozens of dollars it cost the Commandant and Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps to make this video saying they won't continue to harass fellow Americans.)

My question is this--in two years, there will be a Presidential election. The Republican Party, thus far notorious for being anti-gay, will have to choose a Presidential nominee and Tim Pawlenty has already come out against troops he will eventually be (he hopes) Commander in Chief of. When repeal is already finalized (as it will be by the elections), will people who hope to lead the military stand during debates and say unequivocally that they do NOT support the troops they hope to lead and, possibly, send to their deaths?

That would be something wouldn't it? I could be wrong here, but I feel like this is something unprecedented in modern history.