Scalia’s Escape
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By Phil Erwin
Absolutely shameful.
The revered Supreme Court Justice Antonin “Nino” Scalia wasn’t even resting in his coffin before Obama was on camera, bragging how he would “fulfill his Constitutional responsibility” to nominate a replacement – Was there some doubt? – and sternly warning Congress he expects “a fair hearing and a timely vote.”
Translation: “Approve whomever I name. Immediately!”
He never misses a chance to insert himself, stiletto-like, into the Republican psyche.
In his book, Dreams from My Father, Obama tells of a failed effort to set up a citizens’ meeting with police officials to air local concerns about escalating neighborhood violence. Obama spoke to a group of local clergymen, seeking their support for the meeting. It seemed they were on board, until one “Reverend Smalls” arrived late and, as they say, “put on the room.” Smalls announced in short order that the proposed meeting would undermine the local Black leadership, and that Obama was “…on the wrong side of the [racial] battle.”
Obama’s community-organizer employer, “Marty,” wasn’t surprised. “I told you Chicago’s polarized and that politicians use it to their own advantage… You should be glad you learned your lesson early.” Obama wondered, “which lesson?” Eventually he concluded that “…in politics, like religion, power lay in certainty – and that one man’s certainty always threatened another’s.” [My emphasis]
So the future President decides that Life really is a “zero-sum game” – that one man’s gain is always and inevitably another man’s loss.
How much different would Obama’s presidency be, if he had seen the much more obvious lesson of this early failure: That a loudmouthed, arrogant, race-baiting, self-serving politician deliberately got in the way of folks coming together to solve a problem.
Perhaps young Mr. Obama was simply too young to see the obvious at that time. Perhaps he was still too young to see it when he wrote about it.
Come to think of it, Mr. Obama even today does not get it.
Or perhaps the lesson he absorbed was just this: That loudmouthed, arrogant, race-baiting, self-serving politicians get what they want.
Obama simply can’t help himself. Poor “Nino” hasn’t even finished cooling down, and Obama’s already pushing the Liberal agenda, knowing full well that he will be angering the entire Conservative half of the country. But no matter. What’s in play here is not simply a seat on the Court. What’s in play here is stealing power from Conservatives for a generation.
Were Obama a statesman, he would have respectfully acknowledged the reverence Scalia had earned among jurists, and promised the Congress a serious and respectful effort to find a replacement nominee acceptable to Republicans and Democrats alike.
But Obama is no more a statesman than is Donald Trump.
What they both are is arrogant bullies. Just like the “Reverend Smalls.”
Haven’t we had enough of their kind?
Perhaps Scalia himself felt that way. They say he loved to laugh… Maybe Trump’s ass-cendency and Hillary’s ass-ininity weighed too heavily on his heart. Maybe his spirit yearned for unsullied air.
I’d rather believe that than wonder about some Progressive conspiracy to undermine the fabric of America by offing a Supreme Court Justice while Obama still has time to replace him.
Wait… Wasn’t there a movie like that? Yeah! Julia Roberts – The Pelican Brief.
Come to think of it – Did Obama have to be so gleefully eager to replace Scalia? Did he have to be so uncouth as to discuss it publicly on the day of Scalia’s death? Couldn’t he have waited until after the funeral to get into the politics of it?
And… Did he have that speech already written?
Just in case?
(Maybe the conspiracy-prone Clintons have rubbed off on Obama in more ways than we know.)
By all accounts, Scalia was a good man and a great jurist. And he thrived in government during what may have been the best decades America will ever see.
But with the currently-top contenders for Obama’s replacement, maybe Scalia’s spirit considers himself well out of Washington, with his own dignity, sanity and humanity intact.
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Phil Erwin is an author, IT administrator and registered Independent living in Newbury Park. He sometimes wishes he could support Democrat ideals, but he has a visceral hatred for Lies and Damn Lies, and is none too fond of Statistics. If his writing depresses you, he recommends you visit Chip Bok’s site for a more lighthearted perspective.
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Phil and Bill are right on about Obama.
It takes a blind eye to not see the unconstitutional acts that President Obama has acted on. The only reason he has not been stopped is because we have a load of politicians under him that are not for “We The People”. They are all, on both sides, career driven. They all belong in the private sector not the political arena. That’s for people who want to serve The People.
Mr./Ms. “Stalker” — You’re far more likely to grasp the true meaning of what you read if you first set aside your emotional baggage. NO ONE questions Obama’s LEGAL, Constitutional right to nominate a replacement Justice – and I most certainly did not. My rhetorical question,”Was there any doubt?” makes the point that there IS no doubt. But Obama’s instinctive, instantaneous reaction is to make political hay out of a good man’s death, turning that death into political controversy on the very same day! That is disgraceful, un-Presidential, unseemly and un-statesmanlike. You might see this, but not if you’re blinded by the belief that Obama does no wrong.
Mr. Hicks: Yeah, I thought the coin thing obvious, too.
Yes and I see no mention is made of Mitch McConnell refusal to even consider the appointment by President Obama and the attempts to delay any appointment of a Supreme Court nominee until the next President is in office. Speaking of baggage, you really need to look at both sides of the aisle carefully. Unless, of course, that would cause you to lose your “objectivity.”
MS. AVRC Stalker:
You’re half right. He can select a candidate to replace the opening resulting from Scalia’s death. It’s up to the Senate to accept or reject his selection. Now that’s Constitutional.
By the way, the term is Commander In Chief, or is that ranting too much for your sensitivites?
I am never half right on anything, William. Why do you address me as a woman? When one is not sure, it is best to just keep still.
I might like to point out, in your other comment, the use of the word “too” is incorrect, the correct spelling is “to.”
Hope that doesn’t affect your sensitivities.
Mr. Erwin:
Obama and Trump are just the flip side of the same coin. I’m glad you saw what is so apparent too me.
I know that I will hear about this comment, but I put the greatest effect on our daily lives on Scalia more than Reagan. He stood in defense of the Constitution, as written, very seriously. in his words…….”The Constitution is NOT a living document, it is dead.” Not effected by the changes of time or person.
The Constitution sets forth the process for the appointment of a Supreme Court Justice. Obama has done nothing wrong in stating that he will appoint a new Supreme Court Justice.
I enjoy reading these rants accusing Obama of usurping the Constitution. These desperate attempts to derail the process only, confirm that conservatives have been unable to make a case against the Commander and Chief and must resort to rhetoric and scare tactics. Good luck subverting the Constitution, you’ll need it.