The wrong side of history.

It's one of President Barack Obama's favorite expressions.

He's not alone, of course.

It's a perennial favorite of liberal politicians and activists.

A post-game marriage?

You're on the wrong side of history.

Against pot legalization?

You were stuck in the past.

It's used a lot in foreign policy, too.

In his first inaugural dress, for example, President Obama said, quote,

to those who cling to power through corruption and deceit

and the silencing of dissent know that you are on the wrong side of history.

As Hosni Mubarak's regime in Egypt disintegrated in 2011

and the United States stood by and watched,

Obama fell back on the comforting thought that, quote,

history will end up recording that at every juncture,

we were on the right side of history.

As Libyan dictator Muammar Khaddafi's chapter on this earth came to an end,

President Obama justified American policy in Libya by saying,

I believe that Khaddafi is on the wrong side of history.

Speaking more broadly about the then still young Arab Spring,

he said, I think that the region will be watching carefully

...