Steve Clemons thinks the ascension to the Supreme Court of Samuel Alito means that Bush's lame duck status ends. I think that's far-fetched. (Or is it that I hope it's far-fetched.) Seems more likely it's the last goody the Senate will hand Bush... ever. We'll see. Here's what Clemons writes today:
Alito will contribute to a vast expansion of Executive Power, and this will seriously harm our democracy. No one "owned" this battle in the progressive community, and those who rallied troops at the end were encouraged by the cynical electioneering stances of John Kerry, Hillary Clinton and others. I believe Ted Kennedy's opposition was real, as was Pat Leahy's -- but the machine against Alito should have been launched day one...
...Dems will rue the day that they let Alito pass; so will moderate Republicans; and so will independent-minded Americans who value our system of checks and balances. I think that there have been some real heroes doing their best against Alito -- but the Democratic establishment is still inchoate and without the backbone to fight consistently against the White House.
Quite unbelievably, Alito's win reverses the lame duck status of the Bush presidency, the night before the State of the Union address.
An honest accounting puts Bush back in the game with a lot of juice -- and Dems and Republican moderates have to figure out how to throw him off-balance again. It will take a while.
