The conservative Washington Post columnist agrees with me that the USSC decision on handguns was a win for Obama.
Obama benefits from this decision. Although he formerly supported groups promoting a collectivist interpretation — nullification, really — of the Second Amendment, as a presidential candidate he has prudently endorsed the "individual right" interpretation. Had the court held otherwise, emboldened gun-control enthusiasts would have thrust this issue, with its myriad cultural overtones, into the campaign, forcing Obama either to irritate his liberal base or alienate many socially conservative Democratic men.
I'm not arguing this decision is the best thing that ever happened to the Obama campaign. Any time guns are even mentioned in our national political conversation, it's hurts the Democrats. I'm just saying that the court's decision hurts them a lot less than if it had upheld the handgun ban, and denied that the 2nd Amendment guarantees an individual right to gun ownership. Had that happened, the GOP would have been handed a serious issue to campaign on in the fall. The fact that the court didn't is the best of generally bad scenarios for Obama.
