Monsieur Baguette

As President Obama’s first term in office drags along, naturally, the liberal skeptics will grow increasingly concerned that they misplaced their support for then candidate Obama and wasted their vote on what they thought was a progressive revolutionary. I would like to lay out just one of the reasons why the liberal bloc did not waste one dollar of support or one vote.

Here it is folks and it is exciting……….The Supreme Court

Presidents rarely are put in the position of nominating a Supreme Court justice, although over the last 3 Presidential terms we have seen a significant shake up in the highest court’s make up. The power to put a justice on the court for a life long-term is arguably the most influential decision a President will ultimately make.

Why is this? Well, because our most controversial and significant public policy changes without fail find their way in front of the crusty, out of touch and until recently far right Supreme Court. No party – liberal, independent, republican or birthday – will take a legislative blow delivered to them by Congress sitting down. So the law inevitably gets challenged, then ruled on is district court, then appealed, then ruled on in appeals court, then challenged, then if it is controversial enough will be heard by the 9 in black (constitutional law class boiled down in 1 sentence). As a side note I’d like to propose a name and inform change for the Supreme Court. Let’s modernize this group a bit, although it must be nice to go stark naked under that silk robe. I’m looking at you Alito. All proposed names and sketches for new uniforms accepted right here as comments.

Back to business. Just think about a few of the cases that will go before the Supreme Court soon – gay marriage rights, Arizona’s despicable immigration law, abortion rights, a challenge to the 14th amendment (yes, I said challenge to the 14th amendment. The “clearly hate all non white people” bloc of Congress is actually serious about this. Let’s just hope this futile, election year, politics of fear shit stays where it is – as material for Jon Stewart and in Ku Klux Klan brochures.)

All of these issues will not be settled in the halls of Congress but in the Supreme Court’s chambers and liberals should be thankful that President Obama has made his mark on the court. If you can do so without suffering a mild stroke, do me a favor and think back to when W was nominating conservative attack dogs to the high court. The court was without question a branch of the republican party and the progressive agenda was definitively going to be left out to dry. But, this has changed. By voting President Obama into office, you were able to prevent the inevitable right-wing nominations coming out of the McCain Palin administration (I seriously just got the chills after typing that). Now progressives have a fighting chance at solidifying key pieces to their agenda through Supreme Court rulings and I believe that is worth something.

So, I am not suggesting that the President has been a gift to progressives but let’s be clear on what we have a chance at accomplishing through the Supreme Court and let’s be clear on who gets the credit for those victories.

Our President is a thinker and keeps long-term strategy in mind and if you think these issues are ending up in front of a Supreme Court that has changed significantly thanks to him by accident, then you need to stop, hey! what’s that sound, everybody look what’s going down.

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