In declaring the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) unconstitutional, President Obama is not declaring war on the executive branch's constitutional role as envisioned by the founders. While his move is definitely an unusual gambit as he seeks a stalemate between his previous position on gay marriage and what many suspect his real position may be, the real crime is his contradictory actions following his decision. As a result, he has backed himself in a corner and gave conservatives an open door to ending judicial activism.
In chess, a zugzwang refers to a position where one is forced to make an undesirable move. A stalemate occurs when one player's King is not in check but he has no available move to make that would not put his King in check. When a player finds that he has been maneuvered into a zugzwang, his best move will often be to play for a stalemate in order to obtain a draw. One danger in this maneuver is that the player must be aware of all possibilities, otherwise he further place himself into the zugzwang. President Obama has chosen to play for the stalemate.
In running for President, candidate Obama stated his opposition to legalizing gay marriage. Despite his repeated statements supporting this position, it has endlessly been speculated that it did not reflect his true feelings on the matter. If, and I will say if, in fact President Obama has always been a closet gay marriage supporter, he must find a path that enables him to fess up. But he must do so without seeming like the liar so many hoped he was. If this seems troubling, read my last statement again. His supporters hoped that the President of the United States was lying to them; and many assumed it. This is his zugzwang.