Memo to Chuck Todd: the Obama Presidency is definitely not over. The White House is going to unveil another, very significant executive order today.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama on Friday will announce a rule that makes legally married same-sex couples eligible for benefits under the Family and Medical Leave Act in all 50 states, a White House official said.
Currently, legally married couples are eligible for those benefits if they reside in a state in which same-sex marriage is legal. Obama is directing the Department of Labor to propose a rule extending the FMLA rights even to states where gay unions are not legal.
The rule is being issued as Attorney General Eric Holder announces the results of a review of U.S. laws in the wake of the landmark 2013 Supreme Court Windsor decision that held that the survivor of a same-sex couple could claim the federal estate tax exemption for surviving spouses.
This is not law but an executive judgement on existing law, thus a future President could reverse it, but instilling these rights entrenches them. Not only will it be harder for a future regime to roll them back, Marriage Equality will probably be settled law in every state of the Union when the next Republican POTUS is sworn into office... sometime in the 2030s the way things are going.
I have to agree with Paul Krugman, I am starting to like this "Lame Duck" President.