Wow, that sure got politicized real quick, but then, really, it should be. It’d be just as if he retired suddenly. It isn’t his death that’s politicized, it is the vacancy.
And really, that’s fine. It is a political position, at least in that it is a seat in government.
There seems to be three camps in the “Obama shouldn’t nominate anyone” parade.
Obama shouldn’t bother to nominate anyone because we’ll just block it.
You know, that’s fine. The constitution only gives the President the right to nominate, not the requirement for the Congress to approve it. If the end goal of this statement is ‘Don’t bother, it’s just wasting time,’ I can accept that as a valid statement. It might be pig-headed, mule-stubborn, and a whole bunch of jiggery-pokery with the rules, but, that’s just advice.
Obama shouldn’t nominate anyone because he’s a lame duck president.
This, this isn’t fine. I mean, sure, if it was January 3rd, I might be willing to side with you. Heck, if it was after the first Thursday in November (or, if it was after Dec 12th in 2000), I could even see my way to agreeing with you, regardless of who won the election, because that’s REALLY a lame duck President, and I see those last months of a presidency as the time when the West Wing should be running at the speed of Emergency Only While We Prepare Close Up Shop and Bring the New Stewards Up To Speed.
Obama CAN’T nominate anyone because he’s a lame duck president.
Honestly, I’m not sure I’ve actually heard anyone say this. I know I’ve heard shouldn’t and shouldn’t bother, but all the ‘Can’t’ seems to be coming from people saying what the other side is saying, not actually what the other side is saying.
Like I said, I don’t have a problem with shouldn’t bother, except in the issues it shows with our government. It really comes down to:
Person A: I am going to do this thing that I am legally entitled to do.
Person B: Yeah, well, we’re going to do this thing that we are legally entitled to do that will prevent you, so you might not want to bother.
And there isn’t anything wrong with that. Kinda. If you’re going to argue that the Congress shouldn’t bully the President like this, I want you to step back and think if the parties were reversed, would you still feel the same way? If so, I agree with you. If you don’t, then you’re being partisan.
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