President Obama Channels Judge Dredd, Reeks of Desperation

Today, President Barack Obama did something I don’t think I’ve ever seen a President do. He ordered the Department of Justice not to enforce the Defense of Marriage Act because he believes it is unconstitutional.

Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said in a statement released Wednesday that President Obama has decided that his administration “will cease defense of Section 3,” which states that marriage is between one man and one woman.

“[T]he President has concluded that given a number of factors, including a documented history of discrimination, classifications based on sexual orientation should be subject to a more heightened standard of scrutiny,” Mr. Holder said. “The President has also concluded that Section 3 of DOMA, as applied to legally married same-sex couples, fails to meet that standard and is therefore unconstitutional. Given that conclusion, the President has instructed the Department not to defend the statute in such cases. I fully concur with the President’s determination.”

There is no way this will end well, for a couple reasons. First, the President is already on a Slip and  Slide toward a giant pool of hot water because his Justice Department decided to selectively enforce voting rights laws. His administration is already in contempt of court for ignoring a judge’s order to lift the Gulf drilling moratorium. The President, and quite a lot of his staff, are in a world of legal hurt, and this won’t help one bit, as it confirms the pattern that this President truly believes himself above the laws that govern we mortals.

Second, this move will cement the growing opinion around the country that the President is not, in fact, the post-partisan master of rainbows and unicorns, but a rank political operative who’ll use his most ardent followers to take heat off himself. Make no mistake, folks, this is a political move. His union buddies are taking a beating, he’s proven himself worse than incompetent on foreign policy, and his approval numbers are headed south faster than a flock of jet-propelled geese in November. He desperately needs something to pull the headlines off of Wisconsin, Indiana, Libya, and Egypt and his little Judge Dredd-like “I am The Law” act is his attempt to get that done.

My guess is that he’s hoping that much of the right will take the bait he’s tossed toward them and rise up in a wave of indignation against his disregard for the rule of law. I don’t think that will happen nearly to the extent he wants, especially if, as Ed Morrissey writes, this looks a lot bigger than it actually is (via memeorandum) Don’t be surprised, though if you see the MSM on this story, eager to report the faintest peep against it as if it were a shout.

Barack Obama, like Judge Dredd, wants us to believe he is the law

Tags: Courts and the Law, Gay Marriage, President Barack Obama