First thoughts: Changing nothing
Posted: Friday, July 17, 2009 9:19 AM by Domenico Montanaro
Filed Under:
First Thoughts
From Mark Murray, Domenico Montanaro, and Ali Weinberg
*** Changing nothing: In the Sotomayor hearings, there were four days of statements and questioning, several witnesses, wall-to-wall coverage, and it changed … absolutely nothing. Truth is, there hasn't been a real Supreme Court fight since Clarence Thomas (in '91) and Robert Bork (in '87). Folks, that's 18 to 22 years ago, and since Thomas we've seen four justices confirmed quite easily -- Ginsburg, Breyer, Roberts, Alito -- and Sotomayor is about to make it five. Per the Washington Post, Republicans don’t intend to filibuster Sotomayor. The Senate Judiciary Committee plans to consider her nomination on Tuesday, but the committee vote will likely take place the following week, clearing the way for a full Senate vote by Aug. 7. After Bork and Thomas, there's been an easy formula to acing your hearings: smile, be courteous and, most important, make no news. Indeed, it's unlikely we'll see a true SCOTUS fight again, unless the nominee breaks those rules or represents truly changing the ideological composition of the court (e.g., President Obama getting to appoint Anthony Kennedy’s replacement).
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Video: Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor's confirmation hearings wrapped up Thursday with more questions about her past speeches, but Republicans acknowledged they won't filibuster the confirmation vote. NBC's Pete Williams reports.
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Slow ride, take it easy: Yesterday, here was Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on health care: “We need to slow down and let the American people see what they’d be getting into with these so-called reforms. We all want reform. But we want the right reform.” And Olympia Snowe said this to Andrea Mitchell on MSNBC: “This is a mighty endeavor… So I think it’s more important to get it right, and a thoughtful process will engender greater support.” Coincidence? Well, GOP message guru Alex Castellanos sent a memo to Republicans last week that contained this message advice: “Slow down, Mr. President. We can’t afford to get health care wrong. President Obama is experimenting with America too much, too soon, and too fast.” But it’s not only Republicans who want to slow things down. After meeting yesterday with Obama, Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson released a statement saying he suggested to the president that “we not impose an arbitrary deadline to get something done.”
*** Dem vs. Dem? Nelson, of course, is one of a handful of Democratic senators who is seeing the DNC run TV ads on health care in his backyard. Yesterday, responding to those ads, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid told reporters, "It's a waste of money to have Democrats running ads against Democrats." But his office later clarified his remarks. "Sen. Reid was led to believe by the question posed to him that the DNC was attacking members of his caucus. In fact, the DNC is running non-specific call to action ads in states with both Democratic and Republican senators, an effort he has no problem with." Even though he doesn’t have a problem with the ads, they’re pretty remarkable. We don’t remember the RNC running TV ads in states represented by GOP senators during the Social Security and immigration fights. Then again, those initiatives didn’t make it through Congress…
Video: NBC's David Gregory joins Morning Joe to talk about the trillion dollar 'massive overhaul' that is Obama's health care plan, and whether it will save America money in the long run.
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The Great American Health Care Fight: Here are other developments from yesterday: The Congressional Budget Office cast doubts whether the House Democratic and Senate HELP bills would end up lowering health-care costs… The American Medical Association says it backs the House Democratic bill… The House Ways and Means Committee
passed that bill by a 23-18 vote late last night… And the Senate Finance Committee seems set to produce its bill next week.
*** Biography is destiny: Since becoming president, Obama has sometimes talked about his biography with powerful effect. He referred to it in Turkey when stressing the need for minority rights there (“I say this as the president of a country that not too long ago made it hard for someone who looks like me to vote”). He mentioned it in Ghana (“I have the blood of Africa within me, and my family's own story encompasses both the tragedies and triumphs of the larger African story”). And he talked about it last night in his speech to the NAACP -- his first as president to a mostly African-American audience. “I know what can happen to a child who doesn't have that chance. But I also know what can happen to a child who does,” he said. “I was raised by a single mother. I don't come from a lot of wealth. I got into my share of trouble as a kid. My life could easily have taken a turn for the worse. But that mother of mine gave me love; she pushed me, and cared about my education; she took no lip and taught me right from wrong. Because of her, I had a chance to make the most of my abilities. I had the chance to make the most of my opportunities. I had the chance to make the most of life.”
*** Potential backlash at Wall Street? First there was Goldman Sachs' huge quarterly profit. Now this, per the New York Times: “Bank of America, one of the nation’s largest and most troubled banks, announced on Friday a $3.2 billion second-quarter profit, a figure that exceeded analyst expectations.” Argues Paul Krugman about Goldman Sach’s profits: “The bottom line is that Goldman’s blowout quarter is good news for Goldman and the people who work there. It’s good news for financial superstars in general, whose paychecks are rapidly climbing back to precrisis levels. But it’s bad news for almost everyone else."
*** Summers day: Obama today has no public events. The administration official in the spotlight today is chief White House economic adviser Larry Summers, who speaks about the economy at 11:00 am ET in DC.
*** End of card check? The New York Times front-pages that Democrats have shelved organized labor’s key wish -- a law recognizing unions if a majority of workers sign cards saying they want one -- and instead are pushing for shorter unionization campaigns and other labor law reforms. “While disappointed with the failure of card check, union leaders argued this would still be an important victory because it would give companies less time to press workers to vote against unionizing. Some business leaders hailed the dropping of card check, while others called the move a partial triumph because the bill still contained provisions they oppose.”
Countdown to Palin Stepping Down: 9 days
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Countdown to Election Day 2010: 473 days
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