You're Out!
by Taylor Carik
After the easy, breezy confirmation of conservative John Roberts to Chief Justice, the contest for the next Supreme Court justice should
have been a walk in the park for President Bush's team. But as Special Council Harriet Miers withdrew her nomination last week — to be replaced
by the more visibly conservative Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr. — the slumping White House had to
add another heart-breaking political loss to its recent record.
How did one of the best teams in politics so badly drop the ball?
Since the tragic folly of
Katrina, it seems that the once undefeatable administration is now in a slump. Approval ratings are way down. Karl Rove and most of the Vice President's office are
on the
disabled list. Cindy Sheehan made President Bush's vacation a PR
nightmare. And the administration continues to take a beating for the wretched
responses to recent natural disasters.
With all of this, then, the second Supreme Court nomination could have been a desperately needed win for the White House. But instead of
sticking to the bread and butter of lip-service,
spin and political profiteering for the administration's go-to guys, Bush threw a Hail Mary and nominated his Special Counsel.
Big mistake. Up until the White House's recent trouble, the Bush administration has had a long list of wins on its record: Medicare Part D, the
Clean Skies Initiative, the Healthy Forests Initiative, No Child Left Behind, the Vice President's energy policy, the funding to invade Iraq,
and the list goes on.
There are several factors for the White House's success. But one big reason is the successful coaching of
a
coalition of supporters to take up the White House's message, from the Religious Right to Corporate America to those in favor of
limited federal government to those simply loyal to the office of the President.
And with this choreographed chorus of support, the media has kept up the Bush bandwagon.
But certainly no team is perfect. Now further removed from the assured approval that followed Sept. 11, the second term has proven
to be more challenging for the administration. Coming off the reelection, the administration got greedy with trying to "open private accounts"
in Social Security, a gamble that turned out to be short-lived. But only with the disaster that followed Katrina has the actual
effects of the administration's actions show through its political rhetoric.
With the tide turning, the White House needed all the support they could muster for their nominee. But the President
forgot that there's no I in his team. From the very
beginning, however, Miers's lack of qualifications but "good heart" could have only worked with one part of
the franchise — and red-state
America has been seeing nothing in the news but high gas prices, hurricanes, and car bombings.
As the confirmation game progressed, it became more and more obvious that many
didn't like the play call (well,
some not until after the fact) and that's when the political and
media battle was lost.
In different circumstances, would the nomination of someone so close to the President have been such a brutal battle? Maybe yes,
maybe no. Miers's experience was always in question. But following historical precedent, lack of judgeship is not a problem. Although
some saw Miers as a continuation of the emerging neo-conservative legal movement, she was debatably well-rounded — at one point in her career, Miers
made pro-abortion statements, and her law firm's political action committee even contributed to Hillary Clinton. (And let's also not forget
her tremendous blogging skills.) No one could tell her positions for sure
because they were never articulated, but then again neither were John Roberts's.
It's interesting to see big-time players make big plays in big games. But it's
also telling to see someone botch the basics, and the folly of the Miers nomination shows two things. First, those left unoccupied in the
White House are clinging to the
myth and misconception that the President has a blank check. The difference in the nominations of Roberts and Miers clearly shows
the contrary, that it takes a lot of creative and effective management to
maintain a dynasty. Second, because
the balk was so uncharacteristic compared to the administration's overall record, it shows how good the White House has been at playing
the political game.
And because of their experience and accomplishment, the administration may be down, but don't look for it to be out.
E-mail Taylor Carik at cari0021 at umn dot edu.
