What works with Obama and the DNC: threatening to withhold donations

So President Obama signed an executive order today extending some benefits to same-sex partners of federal employees. And he said "I stand by my long-standing commitment to work with Congress to repeal the so-called Defense of Marriage Act. It's discriminatory, it interferes with States' rights, and it's time we overturned it."

The move comes after gay bloggers and others announced they were canceling plans to attend a DNC fundraiser next week (some even pledged to demonstrate outside).

I'm not a big John Aravosis fan but he captures the point well on this one:

The White House actually admitted to the NYT that they were offering the benefits to help contain the "growing furor among gay rights groups." How about doing it because it's the right thing to do? How about doing it because you were already planning to do it to help our community, because you recognize us as human beings?
...
With all due respect, don't our civil rights deserve a bit more attention than some kluge thrown together at the last minute to save a cocktail party?

Chris Geidner has a take on the good and the bad in Obama's language today, as well as a round-up of others' reactions to the announcement.