It’s only been a week and a half since my last post on the glacial pace of President Obama’s judicial and U.S. Attorney appointments, but coverage is growing in the national media.
The process reminds me of the photo to the right.
On Monday I saw this Slate article tilted “The Bench in Purgatory.” The Slate article blames Senate Republicans for the delays:
It seems clear that Senate Republicans are prepared to take the partisan war over the courts into uncharted territory—delaying up-or-down votes on the Senate floor for even the most qualified and uncontroversial of the president’s judicial nominees.
The emerging Republican strategy is to hold these uncontroversial nominees hostage as pawns in the larger war over President Obama’s agenda and the direction of the federal judiciary. The Senate operates according to a set of arcane rules that allows a minority party to bring the institution to a halt if it chooses to do so.
This afternoon the WSJ Law Blog had this article titled: “Blame Game: On Obama’s Judicial and U.S. Attorney Nominees.” The article cites the Slate article and comments:
But for now, what we can say from our own little corner of the world is that the process for replacing vacancies on the federal bench and among federal prosecutors hasn’t exactly been a quick one.
Last week I said this about the President’s appointments and Republicans:
If the President thinks that Senate Republicans will give his nominations a pass because he appoints people his administration perceives as moderates, then he is kidding himself. Republicans play politics for keeps and are going to oppose the President’s nominees for political reasons, regardless of who they are.
It is going to take a long time for Obama to get his appointees through the Senate. The quicker the process starts the better.
My personal opinion is that if Senate Republicans are sandbagging votes on Obama’s nominations, then it is a political mistake and symptomatic of a party that has lost its moorings. But regardless of that, I don’t see how the White House can blame Republicans for the fact that the Obama is not making appointments. It’s not the Republicans’ fault that Obama has not nominated 57 of 90 U.S. Attorney slots or most of the 90-plus vacancies on the federal bench. The fact that the Republicans are playing hard ball should make it easier to decide on nominees–not harder. If the Republicans are going to oppose everyone, then why spend time looking for someone who Republicans might agree to? To borrow a football analogy, it’s time for the White House to make some half-time adjustments. They need to forget about the Republicans and make the nominations for these positions.
If the anniversary of Obama’s inauguration arrives and there are still massive vacancies, look for Republicans to use it as evidence of the President’s ineptness. It’s time for the President to head the Republicans off at the pass and name appointees/ nominees for all vacant judicial and U.S. Attorney positions. Once that is done, then the President and Democrats can blame confirmation delays on Republicans.
Finally, last night Mississippi blogger Will Bardwell had this post citing statistics that President Bush was slower filling appointments than Obama. Is that what we’re already down to with Obama? Comparing his presidency to perhaps the worst president EVER? I was hoping for a presidency that compared favorably with administrations that were significantly better than Bush’s.