Comparing Dates within plugin using PHP If statement

Question

This is really simple, but I can't seem to make it work. I want the Due Date text to be red if the current date is past due. I want it to be green if it is still not due yet. Also, I set the due date up to be 2 days past when the wordpress post is made. I need some help though, it all looks good to me, but everything is green regardless of if it is past due or not.

<?php 
    $current_date = strtotime(date( 'F j, Y g:i A' ));
    $expire_date = get_the_date( 'F j, Y g:i A' );
    $expire_date = new DateTime($expire_date);
    $expire_date->add(new DateInterval('P2D'));

    $compare_date = $expire_date->format('F j, Y g:i A');
?>
<?php if( get_field( 'maxpreps_link' ) or get_field( 'khsaa_link' ) ) { echo "<span style='color: green;'>Done!</span>"; } ?>
<a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>" title="<?php the_title_attribute(); ?>" target="_blank" style="color: #0000EE;"><?php the_title(); ?></a>
&nbsp;&nbsp;<span>(<?php echo the_date(); ?>)</span>
<?php
echo ("&nbsp;&nbsp;" . "<span style='float: right; color: "); 
if( $compare_date > $current_date ) { 
    echo "#BA0000"; } 
else { echo "#39AC00"; } 
echo (";'>Due Date: " . $compare_date . "</span></strong>");

Answer 1

$current_date is a timestamp and $compare_date is a formatted date, so you're comparing different things.

As you're already using DateTime and as of PHP 5.2.2 DateTime objects can be compared using comparison operators, you can compare instead $expired_date (DateTime object) with today's date as a DateTime object:

$current_date = new DateTime();
$expired = new DateTime();
$expired->setTimestamp( get_the_time('U') );  // get UNIX timestamp of current post
$expired->add(new DateInterval('P2D'));  // add 2 days

$day_color = '';
if( $current_date > $expired ) {
    $day_color = '#BA0000';
} else {
    $day_color = '#39AC00';
}

echo sprintf( '<span style="float: right; color: %s;">Due Date: %s</span>', $day_color, $expired->format('F j, Y g:i A') );