Yet another flambouyant political analysis for former Clinton friend and now Clinton nemesis Dick Morris. In his latest column he suggests that GWB actually has told Congressional bigwigs to back off changing the rules on fillbusters…so he can propose some hard-right judicial nominees that don’t pass:
President Bush and Karl Rove probably figured that they did not want the power to appoint judges without opposition from the Senate Democrats. They realized that without the filibuster there was nothing to stop them from nominating judges who would cling to a hard right-wing agenda on Roe v. Wade and other issues, permanently alienating much of the country and driving a stake into GOP efforts to reach out to independents and women.
Bush needs the filibuster so that he can nominate judges who will not drive a wedge into the politics of America. He needs an excuse to tell his far-right friends why he is not naming a new Clarence Thomas or William Rehnquist or Antonin Scalia to the court. Bush grasps that such an appointment would be a step that would shatter the unity he is achieving after his reelection. And he needs the filibuster to keep the loyalty of his base even as he disappoints their most earnest expectations.
This is interesting…except for a few teeny-weenie thingies:
- As James Joyner points out, from all indications Bush is a true believer. On the other hand, could this be Uncle Karl’s advice of what is needed in the long-term to construct a permanent GOP majority (“Listen, George: we can’t afford to lose those mushy independents and those gals!”)?
- Morris has a less than illustrious track record in terms of political prognostication. In other words: don’t go to Vegas and bet your house that what he says is true or you may join the ranks of the homeless.
On the other hand, if Bush does want one iota of Democratic cooperation in his second term, he is going to have to focus on some issues that haven’t become so starkly, bitterly partisan. The “nuclear option” on filibusters hits smack against a partisan dividing line. And, as it’s turning out, so does his plan for Social Security reform.
Simply rallying your party’s base and governing almost exclusively with the votes of your party in Congress isn’t the usual — or healthiest — way to lead from the White House. So perhaps Dick Morris — this time, at least — is truly onto something…
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.