There is a major problem with the criticism over Hillary's defense of Bill's previous support of DOMA. The argument many are advancing is that it can not be justified as a defensive move because at the time there was no effort to amend the constitution. While this is true, it is not at all proof of what people claim it is. The passage of DOMA did not have to stop an ongoing movement for a Constitutional Amendment to be a defensive move, it could also be one by preventing such a movement from beginning in the first place. The question that has to be answered is not whether there was such a movement at the time, but if there would have been one had Clinton vetoed DOMA. Anyone who believes that Clinton's veto of DOMA would not have caused a firestorm that would have led the opponents of same sex marriage to strike back by demanding an amendment to the Constitution is either stupid or lying. His veto would have in all likelihood been overridden, but it would have sent the message that Democrats were willing to ignore public opinion on the issue which was overwhelmingly against gay marriage at the time; and that would have ignited the social conservatives to go to war to enshrine their current advantage in the in law in a way that could not be overturned easily by the courts or future elected officials. That movement did come four years later even with DOMA, but had it come earlier before there had been movement in public opinion there is a significant risk that it would have been much more successful then it was. Considering gay marriage couldn't even win a vote in California in 2008 anyone who suggest that risk would have been worth taking is simply blind or reckless, or both.
This is just another classic example of why progressives suck at politics, and why Republicans are able to control the Congress, the courts, and most of the states. Too many progressives aren't interested in actually achieving anything; they are more interested in being right, then doing what is right. They attack and vilify those who are actually good at politics and then can't understand why they do so poorly at it. They need to be thankful that the crazy right wing suffers from many of the same delusions because that is often the only thing we have working in our favor.