The administration has supported Microsoft in other antitrust skirmishes as well.
And the administration has supported – in many cases, as the principal author – secretive treaty negotiations that would create Sopa-like, and worse, laws via backdoor methods.
At the same time, the administration has supported efforts in Congress to create a federal shield law that would allow judges to quash some subpoenas to journalists.
The administration has supported minimum-wage increases, middle-class tax breaks, expanded benefits for retirees under Medicare and increased spending on child care and preschool programs, all policies supported by the labor movement.
The administration has supported Shell's efforts to explore what could be a huge new oil field that has the potential to produce hundreds of millions of barrels of oil over decades.
It was the latest move in an aggressive campaign to crack down on leaks, even as the administration has supported proposed legislation that would shield reporters from having to identify their sources.
The historic fuel efficiency standards the administration has supported will do more to save consumers money at the pump than any drilling or pipelines ever could.
It's fair to say even President Obama and the unions have a rocky relationship, as the administration has supported initiatives that unions have long opposed, such as charter schools and tenure reform.
The odds were against passage of Brown-Kaufman two years ago, even if the administration had supported it.
The Obama administration has supported the Khalifa family through the unrest, unlike the policy it adopted in seeking to remove the leaders of Libya and, to a lesser extent, Egypt.
Mr. Lighthizer, who negotiated similar quotas to help the United States steel industry during the Reagan administration, has supported the approach.
