OPINION:
The rules of the game have changed, and the first of the new rules is that there are no rules. The second is that a word once spoken lives forever somewhere on a digital cloud in the not-so-sweet by and by. Not all politicians have adapted to the scary reality. Some Democrats, for example, would like to hide from some of the words they spoke to derail the nomination of Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court in 2015.
One of them is Barack Obama, who was then a freshman senator from Illinois. He might wish that he had abided by the discarded Senate tradition, which seems so quaint today, that freshmen should be seen and not heard. No Republican senator could say any better now what Mr. Obama said then, about the peril of rushing to judgment of a president’s nominee.
“There are some,” he said on that not so distant day, “who believe that the president, having won the election, should have complete authority to appoint his nominee and the Senate should only examine whether or not the justice is intellectually capable, and an all-around good guy. That once you get beyond intellect, and personal character, there should be no further question as to whether the judge should be confirmed.
“I disagree with this view. I believe firmly that the Constitution calls for the Senate to advise AND consent [emphasis his]. I believe that it calls for meaningful advice and consent that includes an examination of a judge’s philosophy, ideology, and record.”
He was taking his cue from Sen. Chuck Schumer, who argued that the Senate should block President George W. Bush’s nominees for the High Court during the last 18 months of his presidency. They knew the balance on the court would change dramatically if Samuel Alito replaced the more “moderate” Sandra Day O’Connor.
The stakes are higher today. Replacing Antonin Scalia with a “moderate,” as the Democrats define “moderate,” would put the Constitution in the hands of liberal rewrite men with no respect and affection for the dead language of the founding document. Some gentle folk think Mr. Obama should appoint such a moderate rather than a liberal, which the president rejects out of hand. He wants his legacy to include a revolution in the law, and his allies are rallying now to find Republicans in the Senate who can be intimidated to stand with them.
Mr. Obama, like the Republican conservative base, understands exactly what’s at stake. A poll shows the country evenly divided on whether the president should appoint someone now or allow his successor to fill the seat vacated by the death of Mr. Scalia. Nearly 75 percent of Democrats want him to nominate his man now, and a similar percentage of Republicans want to wait until the people speak in November. No surprises there. The fight over filling this vacancy and the future direction of the court will be long and very, very hard.
Mitch McConnell, the leader of the Republicans in the Senate, holds the cards he needs to resist the temptation to fold under pressure. He must find a way to keep his troops with him. Barack Obama and his troops understand why.
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