GoldbergBlog

There Is No Such Thing as Post-Partisanship

Obama’s front-runner to replace retiring Supereme Court Justice is the President’s Solicitor General Elena Kagan.  Huffington Post says, “Conservatives are responding favorably to the potential of a Justice Elena Kagan,” particularly her views on Presidential power (powers which Obama has somehow managed to make even broader than they were under George W. Bush), civil liberties, and anti-terrorism laws.

The reason why Obama wants her should come as no surprise to anyone following our President’s modus operandi over the past year and a half: She’s an easy confirmation that will give Obama a boost going into the 2010 elections, and her conservative positions on various issues appeals to Obama’s notion of post-partisanship.  Nevermind that she wouldn’t follow in the footsteps of retiring Justice John Paul Stevens.  She could shift the balance of the court on key issues from 5-4 to 6-3.  Yes, she’s pro-choice and pro-gay rights, but why give conservatives a nominee when they’re not in the executive office?

Obama wants to position himself as a transformative President except he’s not.  Republicans have only gone further right despite Obama’s centrist positions.  He’ll be called out as too liberal no matter what he does.  Partisanship isn’t going away and quite frankly, it shouldn’t.  We have honest differences in this country and they fall on a left-right divide.

So where does Obama stand?  He stands on winning.  As we saw with the health care debate, it took over a year for Obama to finally lay out what he wanted.  Before that obvious step, he basically submitted an “all-options-are-on-the-table” approach and then laid the burden at the feet of congress, who kicked it around until Nancy Pelosi finally decided to get folks in line and make health care reform (albeit imperfect) a reality.

If you need another example of Obama’s priority to win, look no further than his chief-of-staff Rahm Emmanuel.  Known as a foul-mouthed punk rather than an idealist or someone with honest political devotions, Emmanuel gets to be Obama’s enforcer while the President keeps his hands clean and can pretend that he’s going to move beyond the politics of Washington.

But Obama plays right into those politics as he’s constantly calculating a way to win, no matter what “victory” looks like.  I don’t mind a willingness to compromise, but I don’t know what Obama wants.  He seems to betray progressives while constantly trying to appease conservatives.  I wouldn’t mind the betraying of progressives so much if he wasn’t on the fool’s errand of trying to get conservatives on board.  He will never get them.  Ever.  Never-fucking-ever.  Even if they confirm Kagan, Obama didn’t get them.  Instead, he got their nominee.  Certainly not a far-right nominee like Roberts or Alito, but one that demonstrates Obama’s true intentions to expand executive power even though he’ll use it to spy on Americans or authorize the assassination of an American citizen rather than wield it to push a “centrist” agenda that’s really just “conservative-lite”.

Supreme Court nominees are a legacy.  Although Stevens was put on the bench by a conservative, over time Stevens joined the liberal side of the court.  I’m not saying that Kagan isn’t intelligent or capable.  We’re not talking another Harriet Meyers here.  But we are talking about the shape of the court for decades to come (Kagan is only 50).  Why give the Republicans a choice they would like?  This could be the last chance Obama has for a liberal nominee since the Democrats will most likely lose seats during the midterms no matter what.  It’s easier to get one more vote for confirmation than the four or five they’ll need after the midterms.

For a guy who claims to want to change the politics of Washington, he’s always playing them.  What’s more, he really sucks at it.

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