Tweet
Re: To President Obama : from Europe with Love
Obama will likely have the opportunity to appoint one maybe even two Supreme court justices with a very friendly Senate vetting his choices. That along with the many dozens, even hundreds of open judicial seats will give Obama that opportunity to wield enormous influence across all three branches of government. I was not making a political statement just stating a fact.
Perhaps, make up of the judiciary is a moot point. As Obama said, in the recently publicized radio interview, he didn't think that the court system was inclined to push hard enough for the reforms he was most interested in. he admitted as a legislator himself, he thought the legislature was best positioned to advance major reforms. A legislature his party now controls.
To your point with just a couple of moderate Republicans, the Senate becomes filibuster proof.
The danger for Obama and Democrats is they must be careful not to fall into the same trap Bush fell into. Bush thought he had a mandate even with a slim margin of victory and marginalized his opponents. While Obama won a significant electoral victory, he still governs a divided country. He and Congressional leadership need to govern judiciously so as not to anger voters as happened to Clinton in 1994. It was a backlash to some of Clinton's policies that gave Republicans congressional control.
If Republican congressional opposition is de-fanged, then it will be interesting to note that there is another group of people in Washington who act as a check to government power. That is the lobbyists. Obama put together a very complicated coalition, many of whom have conflicting interests, i.e coal miners vs. greenies. It is likely these conflicts could continue to lock government action and that lobbyists could likely influence major decisions.
Obama will likely have the opportunity to appoint one maybe even two Supreme court justices with a very friendly Senate vetting his choices. That along with the many dozens, even hundreds of open judicial seats will give Obama that opportunity to wield enormous influence across all three branches of government. I was not making a political statement just stating a fact.
Perhaps, make up of the judiciary is a moot point. As Obama said, in the recently publicized radio interview, he didn't think that the court system was inclined to push hard enough for the reforms he was most interested in. he admitted as a legislator himself, he thought the legislature was best positioned to advance major reforms. A legislature his party now controls.
To your point with just a couple of moderate Republicans, the Senate becomes filibuster proof.
The danger for Obama and Democrats is they must be careful not to fall into the same trap Bush fell into. Bush thought he had a mandate even with a slim margin of victory and marginalized his opponents. While Obama won a significant electoral victory, he still governs a divided country. He and Congressional leadership need to govern judiciously so as not to anger voters as happened to Clinton in 1994. It was a backlash to some of Clinton's policies that gave Republicans congressional control.
If Republican congressional opposition is de-fanged, then it will be interesting to note that there is another group of people in Washington who act as a check to government power. That is the lobbyists. Obama put together a very complicated coalition, many of whom have conflicting interests, i.e coal miners vs. greenies. It is likely these conflicts could continue to lock government action and that lobbyists could likely influence major decisions.
Comment