Certain comments and decisions Sotomayor has made give her a decided anti-male, anti-Anglo cast. This is not the thread for discussing those comments or decisions.
Would it look or be good for Obama to withdraw her nomination? Suppose he were to say something along the lines of, “There is no room on the Supreme Court for even the suspicion of bigotry. Bigotry is bigotry no matter the source or the target.”
I suggest that it would be beneficial: it would show him as a strong anti-racist, demonstrating to the white males that he is on their side. Further, it gives him an opportunity to show quick and decisive action. Conversely, if he continues to back her and further incidents come to light, then surely he risks a substantial loss in his authority?
Who else he might nominate is also beyond the scope of this thread.
Looking at the Harriet Miers incident, Bush came out of that very poorly: he was in a poor place to start with, dithered, and continued to back her, but really had little to lose.
I think the accusations of racism are fairly tenuous and being heavily exaggerated by the Republicans and their various mouthpieces. Sotomayor isn’t tainted goods, and there’s no reason for Obama to treat her as such.
Furthermore, any reversal without substantive reason will look like weakness on the part of Obama, and will only encourage his opponents to throw up every possible obstruction and objection on every issue from now until the next election.
In short, I disagree completely with your assessment of the situation.
Ditto. It’s absolutely ridiculous to start talking about withdrawing her nomination. She has done nothing and said nothing to merit even *considering *withdrawing her nom, despite the Republicans attempts to spin this.
If he’s going to withdraw a nominee just because accusations are made by the Republicans, then he might as well just nominate a hard right Republican candidate right now and skip the intervening steps. They are most certainly going to sling mud at anyone else.
The quotes in red in the OP are pretty silly, IMO: without discussing the merits of the accusations, it’s impossible to discuss the merits of acting on them.
It would not look good or be good. In fact it would be very stupid on all counts. For one thing it’s a guarantee that if the Republicans don’t like anybody he nominates, they just have to trump up a charge of the “suspicion of bigotry” and he’ll withdraw them. Do you see a potential problem there?
Withdrawing her now, with no serious criticism from anybody this side of Republican leadership, would show he has no confidence in his own judgment and won’t stand up to any criticism. Obama’s people were aware of these comments and decided it wasn’t a big deal.
I think it’s unfortunate she misspoke regarding her ability to do a better job than a white male; I don’t believe that’s what she meant (even though it’s sort of what she said). I am able to see past the words and understand the essence of her comment. I believe a female hispanic viewpoint is valuable when interpreting law. We are an ever-changing society and I expect our laws to reflect our changing values. I think withdrawing her name would be a huge mistake. She’s smart and qualified, regardless of what the right might want us to believe. She’s middle-of-the-road. I don’t understand why they’re pushing this so hard, and in such a ridiculous manner.
Contrariwise, could it not be seen as being strong and decisive? Suppose he were to keep her and further issues were to come out? Does he have an opportunity to dump her now and benefit from doing so?
Perhaps I could have a stab at the Republican line if Obama does withdraw the nomination:
Once again this lame duck President illustrates his total inability to govern. He didn’t check his nominee at all beforehand and ran for cover as soon as her totale unfitness for office was revealed.
It was a complet mistake to elect someone to run our country who had no experience of appointing senior Government officials.
The only reason this useless woman was nominated was because both she and the so-called President are not white.
No. You think the people who are criticizing this choice are going to give Obama credit for being strong and decisive in withdrawing it? Get real.
Not really, since “issues” would turn up for any nominee. If you’re not working, consider playing a drinkking game every time somebody calls this pick “troubling.” You’ll be good and hammered fast.
Ditto 100%. The “racism” charges (from the likes of Beck & Tancredo!) are bullshit. Obama pulling the nod of a highly qualified nominee would demonstrate he’s chickenshit. Righties already love to call Sotomayor “Obama’s Harriet Miers”, showing either a genuine partisan cluelessness or a complete intellectual dishonesty that comes as no surprise. Bush came out looking bad because Miers was a joke. Sotomayer may not be everyone’s ideal choice for a SCOTUS judge, but she’s no joke and it would be idiotic for Obama to pull her name simply to appease people who won’t be appeased anyway.
No. Those who are currently against Obama aren’t going to change their minds over this. I’m asking if it’s the floating voter who might float one way or another. Or if it’s the white male who will be reassured.
The answer is still no, and you may be mistaking political bickering for national unease. Most people don’t get that worked up over the Supreme Court unless they’ve made a very controversial decision. Compare the discussion over Sotomayor’s words, which doesn’t even rise to the level of a tiff, to the Clarence Thomas-Anita Hill hearings.
99% of the public justifiably don’t give a rats ass about these allegations. All they’d take from this is that Obama had to withdraw a nomination. It’s always bad for your image to withdraw a nomination, doubly so if you do it for no apparent reason.
