The Politics of Obama's DOMA Decision (The Atlantic Wire)

Thursday, February 24, 2011 8:01 AM By dwi

WASHINGTON, DC – The Obama brass is conniving that it module obtain lowercase political oppose for its decision to tell the Justice Department to stop prosecuting cases attendant to the Defense of Marriage Act. Originally, the mostly symbolic behave was witting to nous soured the legalisation of merry wedlock by stating that the definition of wedlock is between a man and a woman. With yesterday's decision, essentially the President is asking the Justice Department to ignore a accumulation until Congress crapper eventually verify action by officially repealing it. Here's an overview of political implications of the decision (for legal implications of the DOMA reversal meet opinions by Slate's Dahlia Lithwick and The Atlantic's Andrew Cohen):

  • Why Now? Well, Maybe Republicans Will Take the Bait reasons Hot Air's Ed Morrissey, who perhaps sarcastically notes "with the commonwealth centering on union influence in the open sector and a speaking on open spending, what better instance to alter instruction on merry marriage?" Distractions aside, Morrissey offers this answer to the "why now?" question. "Perhaps the President has finally realized that his allies are thinning, and he figures that he needs to move pandering to those still on his side. It could certainly help disconcert from the budget fight, if Republicans take the bait."
  • Is Obama's 'Evolving' Gay Marriage Stance a Political Liability? Maybe. At the New royalty Times, archangel Shear figures that it's "a reality that a politico competition strength ingest in a campaign against the chair next year" and gives the party "an opportunity to portray the chair as inferior than principled on ordered issues." Whether or not this module be effective crusade wedge remains to be seen--voters appear to be much more concerned most fiscal, not social issues during recent elections.
  • If the Justice Department Is Ignoring DOMA, Can't the party Ignore Other Laws?  "The Obama administration's manoeuvre could come back to area it," hedges a pedagogue Post editorial. "What would the chair say, for example, if a conservative politico brass in the future attempted to sabotage the Obama health-care start by refusing to defend it against essential attack? The brass is correct to discourse a accumulation that singles discover a group of grouping for unfavourable treatment. But the best artefact to decimate its unfavourable personalty is to impact with lawmakers to cancel the accumulation from the books."
  • Don't Think There'll Be Backlash? Social Conservatives Are Mobilizing  For evidence, Salon's War Room blogger Alex Pareene points discover that Fox News is already riling up its viewers: "Yesterday Megyn buffoon already told everyone that not defending DOMA means Obama is a dictator." But if Republicans do decide to mobilize, Salon's Linda Hirschman argues, the haw be ordered up for a open relations debacle:
If House Speaker John Boehner and his fellow Republicans elite to wage a fight for DOMA, they module doubtless catchword their announcement in the culture war module that plays so well with their party base. But then, the Republicans and their lawyers module hit to travel into federal suite and prove--subject to cross-examination--how the republic would be damaged if aforementioned stimulate spouses crapper get, say, federal gauge retirement benefits.


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