#16 - Just the Right Person for the Job?

Some Preliminary Thoughts on the President’s Choice for the U.S. Supreme Court

President Obama and the mainstream media have been hyping Judge Sotomayor’s race – Latino – and her gender – a woman, ever since he nominated her for the U.S. Supreme Court. It is noteworthy and instructive that New York (her home state) Senator Chuck Schumer has said already that the Republicans “dare not vote against her.” Of course, the not so veiled implication is that Republicans would suffer politically among Latino (a growing voting block) and women voters. Is it possible, you must ask, that the judge’s race and her gender were the primary consideration in her selection as we were told for weeks prior that several other women (and why only women, hmm?) who were qualified were also being highly considered? What do you think? Well, do dogs bark and cats purr?

No, it doesn’t take a cynic to see this but just a political realist. But that being said, if you are a Latino or a woman, you should feel offended– not honored- because here is another example of politicians insulting your intelligence by saying that you will vote for a candidate purely/instinctively because they are of your same race or gender. After all, these people believe, there’s nothing as sure in winning politics as playing the race and the gender card. We just had an election less than 7 months ago in which tens of millions (including the mainstream media) in effect said, “Oh, if we have an African-American President, it will show the world that we are not a racist country anymore and we can stop feeling guilty that we ever were.” (This country has made such monumental progress in our racial views in the past 50 years that this view is just laughable. It’s funny how these same people like to say how so much more “progressive” other countries are than the U.S. in other areas but that they curiously fail to mention the much more deep racial divides in many of those very same countries.)

Finally, this selection was made by a President who as a candidate stressed again and again how he would bring people together and remove the divisions in this country. If this continued emphasis on a person’s race and gender is supposed to bring healing to those divisions, I sure don’t see it. Let’s all pay very close attention in the months ahead as more and more of the content of Judge Sotomayor’s record and judicial pronouncements over the years will be closely examined I don’t know about you, but as I said the last time regarding the President, I sure don’t care what a person’s race or in this case neither also his or her gender might be. Again, the only thing that should matter are the ideas they profess and the beliefs they hold, because in the final analysis those will speak more about the person and ensure how well they will serve us and NOT do us any harm.