But simmering public discontent and the rising anxiety that has followed the oil-price collapse now worry even his fellow conservatives, to the point where it is not clear whether the president will end up as their favoured candidate in June.
As the graph makes clear, the turning point in this debate does, indeed, come at the end of 2008, with support for gay marriage growing each year since.
But at the very end, it was clear the President and Secretary Clinton were very strategic in their words and they made it a point to say this is not a high-five moment.