What's a Lefty to Think...

One thing the left does not believe in is the rule of law.  For all his talk about it, President Obama doesn't believe in it, either.  His first nomination to the Supreme Court, Judge Sonia Sotomayor, confirms this.  Here is what she said during her 2001 Judge Mario G. Olmos Memorial Lecture at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law.

“I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life.”

It goes without saying, that if similar words were ever to come from the mouth of a white male Supreme Court nominee his rejection would take less than a heartbeat.  It wouldn't matter what life he lived.  But to the point of the Judge's statement, for legal decisions to come out differently based on ethnic background, they must be based on factors other than what the law says. 

Judge Sotomayor and Barack Obama are of the same mind on this.  Both are impatient with the law and above it.  Judge Sotomayor has said the court is one place where policy is made.  This was at a panel discussion at Duke University. 

'She made the comment in response to a question from a student on the differences between working at the federal appeals court as opposed to the district court. The New York judge said that traditionally, those interested in academia, policy, and public interest law tend to seek appeals court clerkships.

"All of the legal defense funds out there, they're looking for people with Court of Appeals experience. Because it is — Court of Appeals is where policy is made," she said. "And I know, and I know, that this is on tape, and I should never say that. Because we don't 'make law,' I know. [Laughter from audience] Okay, I know. I know. I'm not promoting it, and I'm not advocating it. I'm, you know. [More laughter] Having said that, the Court of Appeals is where, before the Supreme Court makes the final decision, the law is percolating. Its interpretation, its application."'

A wink and a nod?  While denying that judges are supposed to make the law she seemed to concede that, well yes in practice that's what happens.  Which is precisely the kind of talk that will endear both Sotomayor and Obama to their lefty supporters.  It was apparently well received at Duke.  This reliance on empathy is what makes Sotomayor and Obama the right sort of people, people in whom the left can put their trust, even when they can't.

Take, for instance, when Obama campaigned for his presidency.  He did it with promises to end the war in Iraq and get the troops out of there, but once elected he backed away from the idea of a precipitous withdrawal.  He had promised an immediate end to military tribunals for trying terrorists captured in battle and signed an order to that effect.  But he has recently reinstated them.  In fact, Bush administration policies are the bulk of his strategy for fighting the War on Terror.  Here is Charles Krauthammer's take on it. 

'If hypocrisy is the homage that vice pays to virtue, then the flip-flops on previously denounced anti-terror measures are the homage that Barack Obama pays to George Bush. Within 125 days, Obama has adopted with only minor modifications huge swaths of the entire, allegedly lawless Bush program.

The latest flip-flop is the restoration of military tribunals. During the 2008 campaign, Obama denounced them repeatedly, calling them an "enormous failure." Obama suspended them upon his swearing-in. Now they're back.

Of course, Obama will never admit in word what he's doing in deed. As in his rhetorically brilliant national-security speech yesterday claiming to have undone Bush's moral travesties, the military commissions flip-flop is accompanied by the usual Obama three-step: (a) excoriate the Bush policy, (b) ostentatiously unveil cosmetic changes, (c) adopt the Bush policy.'

Still, they have faith on the left.  It makes no difference what Obama actually does.  On the left they believe in the man.  Or, they believe in the man they believe him to be.  And the man says empathy wins out over cold legalities.  It is enough.  They believe.  Actions matter little, laws perhaps even less.  It's all about the man.  Sound judges of character they are, over there on the left.  They think.

Comments

[Sissy Willis]

Tom: I've twittered a quotation from your EXCELLENT POST: http://twitter.com/SissyWillis/statuses/1963750902

[Sissy Willis]

My fave was that it was okay that Obama's support of one-woman-one-man marriage was the same as the despised Miss CA USA Carrie Prejeans BECAUSE . . . Obama didn't really mean it!

[Tom Bowler]

Thanks for the twitter Sissy. Yes, your favorite is really a beauty. Over the last several years I wondered when the cognitive disonance was ever going to set in on the left. I think we have the answer: Never. No worries. It's all good.

[Reaganite Republican Resistance]

Unless you are delusional, Sotomayer is a racist, as are all members of the treasonous La Raza -by definition- who’s motto is “For our race everything- for others, nothing”.

Clearly Eric Holder has some racial hangups and agenda too… as does Obama, since his behavior betrays a wierd pro-Kenyan grudge against the British… and he’s the one who nominated all these kooks.

What happened to the idea of a colorblind society? Team Obama define their world in racial terms all the time- and unlike any white people I know. I wouldn’t want to be judged by any of them after what I’ve heard come out of their own mouths- they sound like Jesse Jackson.

If Obama is going to go on with his “justice” agenda largely based upon race- the double standards need to stop, and NOW.

http://reaganiterepublicanresistance.blogspot.com/