Obama’s Supreme legacy

by Armstrong Williams - 05/18/10 4:22 PM ET

As I’ve said before, this president — and his successors — are entitled to
nominate whomever they wish. We should gladly grant them that prerogative. That
does not mean, however, the Senate shouldn’t do its job and ask the tough
questions.

Yet the most interesting part of this presidential vignette isn’t the nominee
herself. Rather, it’s what Miss Kagan and her selection reveal about the man
behind the nominee — Barack Obama. This is less about her qualifications, and
more about where Miss Kagan sits in this great cultural mixing bowl called
America. The president’s choice is more of a social experiment than a
well-wrought conclusion of her being the best constitutional scholar for the
job. And by the way, that’s still the No. 1 requirement the last time I checked
said document.

Miss Kagan does not represent the “real world,” as Mr. Obama put it. If she
does, look out, because heaven only knows where the court goes from here.
Neither does she understand the law “as if it affects ordinary Americans,” as
the president stated during his speech last week.

The Washington Post’s Kathleen
Harrington summed it up best by writing, “a New York City girl who attended a
prep school, Ivy League colleges and law school — who once barred military
recruiters from Harvard’s recruitment office and was an adviser to Goldman
Sachs — can’t be characterized as anything close to mainstream America.”

There’s only one word to summarize Mr. Obama’s choice — legacy. Miss Kagan’s
ascension to the court affirms a liberal predilection the likes of which have
not been seen since the Burger court. Think about it. The president’s domestic
agenda is in a shambles. His foreign policy moves of late have been
questionable, particularly with respect to Iran and North Korea, not to mention
his inaction on Chinese currency. His party stands to lose at least one, if not
both, chambers of Congress because of his leftist bent.

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