Good question:Jonathan Bernstein, in The New Republic
writes:
Last time I visited the question of judicial nominations [in June], there were 50 district court and six court of appeals vacancies for which Barack Obama had not even nominated anyone. That was two months ago. Today? District court vacancies without a nominee have reached 53; circuit court vacancies without a nominee are up to 9.
Why? No idea. (...)
The important thing to remember here is that this is in one important respect unlike Democratic obstruction while George W. Bush was president: right now, and throughout this 111th Congress, every one of Barack Obama's nominees probably has the votes to be confirmed. And I'm not talking about 50 votes plus Joe Biden; I'm talking about the Senate gold standard, 60 votes, enough to beat a filibuster and invoke cloture. Of course, that hasn't been tested on the remaining nominees, but I'm confident that there's no one nominated who would lose the votes of Snowe and Collins...in fact, I think there's a solid bloc of somewhere between 62 and 65 votes for cloture for any scandal-free liberal nominee.
The lassitude on this score by Obama demands an answer. What's going on at the White House? Filling the judiciary is a very significant part of establishing public policy. There's so little action, it makes you wonder what this administration cares about.
posted by Quiddity at 8/28/2010 12:25:00 PM
I call bullshit on Bernstein. No way would any Obama nominee make it through without a filibuster or at least serious obstructionism by the Republicans. Indeed, if Obama nominated Jesus himself, the Republicans would suddenly find a way to denounce Jesus and "refudiate" Christianity simply because Obama was pushing for Jesus.
I think that the main focus of this administration is draining the treasury and stealing as much as they can before they are thrown out.
They'll all come rushing back to Washington at the first breath of a new "stimulus", but confirmation hearings are so b-o-r-i-n-g.
What this administration cares about, like any other administration, is the next and their last Presidential election. The supposition appears to be that the enthusiasm generated in 2008 can be reused in 2012.
I don't think so.
