Today I would normally write about health care, but given Obama's
announcement this morning, I will share some thoughts on the Supreme
Court.
A few weeks ago when the speculative short lists started to emerge the
various interest groups of the Democrat Party started to clamor. The
two loudest groups asking for recognition were of course Hispanics and
women. It soon became taken for granted by most pundits that Obama had
to choose a woman. There were also some prominent last minute charges
by folks wishing for a Hispanic judge. Here in Colorado, the governor
and both senators sent a letter to the President requesting he nominate
former senator and current Secretary of the Interior, (Hispanic) Ken Salazar. One
can debate the merits of Mr. Salazar, but given his little judicial
experience, even my home town newspaper implied that the letter was
meant as little more than a gesture to placate the state's Hispanic
population. During all of this hullabaloo, I remember thinking, "Obama
will probably pick Sotomayor ,thus killing two birds with one stone." And I
was so proud of the President when he said over the weekend that he
didn't feel bound by demographics. Raise your hand if you believe that
now. Now I'm not saying that Ms. Sotomayor isn't a good judge or
qualified or anything like that. However I am merely saying that the
Democrats seem as bound by identity politics as ever and that Ms.
Sotomayor probably wouldn't have received the nomination if her name
were Steve or Smith.
There is however a possible ray of light. Being that Obama seems more
bound by the demographics game than anything else, he is less bound by
the philosophical pressures of the left. Of all the names mentioned
down the back stretch, Sotomayor seemed more moderate than some of the
other potential candidates, especially Granholm. The fact of the
matter is that unless something earth-shattering happens, Sotomayor
will be confirmed by the Senate (as surely any Obama nominee would have
been) over any objections by the Republicans. Hopefully, Sotomayor
will be more moderate than some of of the candidates Obama could have
had confirmed. Some have echoed this hope by noticed that Sotomayor
was nominated to the federal bench by a Republican. While it is true
that she was nominated by the Bush 41 administration in 1992, that
nomination may have been the result of a compromise between the New
York senators of the day, Daniel Moynihan-D and Alfonse D' Amato-R;
Sotomayor being requested by Moynihan. Look for that tidbit to come
up during the confirmation.
One thing that I have been proud of concerning conservatives, is that
for us race doesn't actually matter. For all the Democrats' quoting of
the "I have a dream" speech, for them identity politics still seems to
rule the day. If anyone ever starts to believe the scurrilous charges
of racism that conservatives or Republicans have to endure, just ask a
group of conservatives what they think of Clarence Thomas. Mr. Obama
said this weekend that demographics are not something to be bound by.
I doubt today really anyone believes he meant it. But, the country may
as well benefit with a more moderate judge, if that's hopefully what
Sotomayor actually is.