"When Bush nominated the in-over-her-head Miers to the Supreme Court, his fan base turned on him. As one ardent Bush supporter told me at the time: 'It was in that moment that I realized he really might not know what he's doing.' And so things seem to have turned for Obama. Left-leaning Democrats suddenly are wondering: Who is this guy? What happened to the liberal dream-maker... ?"
The tragic narrative arc of Barack Obama: The world built him up, and the world is tearing him back down.
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He may be having those moments, but he may just get really bad healthcare reform passed, and that cap and trade thing won't go away. So if these things pass and the Republicans do take the House (and possibly the Senate) in 2010, what do they do? How does a center-right party deal with these two incredibly expensive left-wing pieces of legislation? Short of repealing them, how do they govern? Has anyone even thought of that?
And yet, what has Sam Alito done on the Court that Miers would not have done?
As for the ultimate test, Alito is still yet unproven.
This, which passes now for conventional wisdom about Bush, is horribly wrong. The Miers nomination marked the point when the Right finally begin to buy into the Left's relentless assault on Bush. He picked someone unknown to them, but extremely well known to him -- better known to him, in fact, than any other potential candidate for the SCOTUS opening, certainly including Sam Alito. Avoiding "another Souter" (or Kennedy) was incredibly high on Dubya's priority list, so much so that he chose to trust his own knowledge base and personal experience with Miers over the "conventional wisdom" that had indeed misfired with many previous nominees. As things have turned out, Alito has not disappointed either Bush's or conservatives' hopes for that seat, and we'll never know how Miers would have done. But the Miers nomination was no betrayal of the Right by Bush; it was exactly the opposite.
(I write this as someone who was, and still is, a proud and defiant part of George W. Bush's "fan base," and as one of the few lawyer-bloggers who supported the Miers nomination. The smears of Miers from the Right were the prelude, albeit of shorter duration and lesser intensity, to the smears of Palin from the Left.)
(WV: "opprope," which describes exactly what I'm walking along in making this comment.
Here's a list of all the tax-hikes in the Reid bill.
http://www.atr.org/news-comprehensive-list-tax-hikes-inbr-a4345#
Just keep scrolling and clicking..
tragic
In a play it would be tragic, in real life it's just plain stupid, maybe even criminal.
Parker said: "Thus, the man who was going to remain above the political fray has revealed himself as pluperfectly political..."
Pluperfectly. Heh.
[Obama] who for years had thought he had reached the absolute limit of all possible [political] suffering now found that suffering had no limits, and that he could suffer still more, and more intensely.
Would that he hadn't.
The Harriet Miers moment was far down on the list of things that George W Bush did to upset the Right. How about: the Steel Tarrifs of 2002? the signing of McCain-Feingold? the signing of the Farm bill of 2002? the Medicare Prescription Drug bill?
Harriet Miers didn't even happen until his 2nd term. There was a lot to love about W but, for conservatives, there was a lot to dislike. Harriet Miers was a minor misstep in a long list of far more serious errors.
I would feel sorry for Obama were it not for the fact that all of the damage he is causing will take a long time to repair.
Oh well. If he does a Nixon and resigns, it is comforting to know that Joe Biden's decisive hand will be steering the Tiller of State.
Live by the celebrity sword, die by the celebrity sword.
... all of the damage [Obama] is causing will take a long time to repair.
The damage will never be repaired. In a very short time, the Democrat base, i.e., non-taxpayers who pretty much vote for a living, moonbats, including college professors, Hispanic illegals and Hispanic-Americans, Jews, African-Americans, union members, government workers and genitalia voters will be a voting majority. Mostly those folks just don't get it.
Add to that the economy and ineptitude of the Republicans and it looks pretty grim
Obama would rather pass a bad bill than no bill at all.
Obama missread teleprompter telling him how to walk softly and carry a big stick...He is walking softly and threw away his evil old stick. Fortunately there is an Alaskan who knows how sticks work awaiting a turn.
The whole Obama-Reid-Pelosi way of doing things is truly un-American. Nobody passes a bill at 1 AM which 60% of the people don't want. This is, "The public be damned", taken to dangerous levels - Roosevelt made sure he had public support for the New Deal - and I can't see any of it ending well.
Or, as James Taranto cheerily put it, "Just think how much damage they could do if the knew what they were doing."
".....nominated the in-over-her-head Miers to the Supreme Court, his fan base turned on him. As one ardent Bush supporter told me at the time: 'It was in that moment that I realized he really might not know what he's doing.'"
JHC...that was late in his presidency and it took some fool that long to note that Bush didn't know what he was doing? Most of us knew that right away.
Boo-fucking-hoo, cry me a river (see Eva Peron).
Even a failed president retains the stature and trappings afforded former Presidents (see Jimmy Carter). Obama and Michelle will want for nothing for the rest of their lives (see Bill Clinton).
Obama's hit the lifetime lottery, he'll be fine. The rest of us; not so much.
Harriet Miers was not a serious pick, but a sort of stalking horse. Picking her made his real pick a lot more palatable.
Actually, Kathleen Parker makes no sense here. A moderate like Obama, no matter how wise or brilliant, will piss off every ideologue.
How does a center-right party deal with these two incredibly expensive left-wing pieces of legislation?
Center-right?
Welcome to your Blue-Dog-dominated Democratic party.
What will a hard-right party do? Try to get elected for starters.
@fls
A moderate like Obama, no matter how wise or brilliant, will piss off every ideologue.
I trust that was tongue-in-cheek,
if not perhaps you could define "moderate" in context.
Yawn.
I'm with Beldar. I supported Miers on the grounds that if she could vet and recommend John Roberts, she probably has enough sense to make decent decisions. (Of course, that was before I was familiar with Althouse.) I lost a lot of respect for George Will over that issue.
I take exception to the assertion that W. was in over his head, but Obama was from the day he began thinking about running for president.
Beldar, I didn't like Harriet Miers because she has horrible taste in make-up and it's application. Did you see the amount of eyeliner this woman wore and how it ringed her eyes like a pair of black-holes. She also has a love affair with purple. Great color purple, but it only belongs on Prince. Thank you.
So the Obama high is coming to an end? So how is it that we are stuck with him for another 3 years.
former law student said...
Harriet Miers was not a serious pick, but a sort of stalking horse. Picking her made his real pick a lot more palatable.
Well that kills the idea that he didn't have any political astuteness or was Cheney hiding in his unmarked bunker when this happened?
let he who is more accomplished than Harriet Miers cast the first stone.
that's what I thought.
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