A Slur Is Born

Chances are by now you know that earlier today President Obama did something pretty much guaranteed to cast a hush over Firedoglake at least through late tomorrow afternoon: he announced that the justice department was no longer going to defend the constitutionality of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act. The law bans the federal recognition of same-sex marriages, and Obama's unwillingness to renounce it has produced cries of "traitor," and ludicrous comparisons to George W. Bush for months into years now.

Well, surprise -- Obama proved those assessments wrong. And he did it not simply by pushing back against a law that was immoral from the beginning; he did it by making a decision that he believes is right for America, even if he claims to be conflicted over whether he personally agrees with it. That takes brains, balls and a kind of character that's been sorely lacking among many of our elected officials. Obama's made some bold moves while in office and he's dropped the ball in decidedly indisputable ways -- but this time he knocked it out of the park.

How can you tell?

Because yapping dingbats like Fox's Monica Crowley are experiencing full-blown on-air apoplexia at the news. In fact, Crowley cranked her transistor radio of a brain up to 11 during a conversation today with equally vapid FNC spokesblonde Megyn Kelly and invented a brand new meme that you'd better start getting used to, because you're guaranteed to see it turn up all over the fucking place in short order. She likened Obama's move to that of a dictator, calling him -- wait for it -- "Mubarak Obama." Never mind the tired, face-palm-inducing invocation of Obama's scary foreign-sounding name or the shameless hypocrisy of the fact that two weeks ago people like Crowley were calling the real Mubarak a cherished ally and cowering in fear at the potential rise of an unpredictable democracy in Egypt; why let a little thing like reality stand in the way of a good turn of a phrase?

Regardless, Obama just proved his progressive mettle -- and in doing so unfortunately fired a fresh volley in the culture war and opened himself up for a whole new world of shit.

(Update, 2.24.11: Oh look, here's a surprise -- despite offering the required meek praise for Obama's decision, Greenwald still isn't satisfied and is playing contrarian just for the fuck of it.)