|
|
|||
|
|||
|
|
Harriet Miers' Withdrawal Would Be a Disaster John L. Perry George W. Bush is under pressure, public and private, Republican and Democratic, to jettison Harriet Miers to save his presidency. Actually, the opposite would happen. Withdrawing her nomination to the Supreme Court, or accepting her withdrawal of it, would be the worst possible thing the president could do – for his political party, for himself, for the country. Does anyone in a right mind think for one moment that if Bush tosses her overboard it would satisfy the sharks? All that would do is chum the water with her (and his) blood, and the insatiable sharks of both parties would leap voraciously into the boat with glee – and the whole country would go under. Surrender this sacrifice to the political predators, and they would be back the next day demanding more, and more, and more, until there would be nothing more left to demand. Dead Duck, Not Just Lame Story Continues Below
That really would be the end of the Bush presidency. He would be as toothless as a newborn baby. His political capital would be totally wiped out. In the midst of a global war on terror that is not the head on a platter America should be offering to Osama bin Laden and his terrorists. You don't preserve political capital by paying it to ransom-demanders. You both preserve and enhance political capital by putting it on the line. That's what Bush must do at this juncture. He could do it quietly, in the confines of the Oval Office with the door closed. Or he could do it in a fireside chat via television to the entire country and world. But he's going to have to do it soon. What They Need to Hear If Bush has nothing to lose that he isn't (according to the wise ones) already going to lose, he should look the majority and minority leaders of the Senate and both leaders of the Senate Judiciary Committee straight in the eye and let them have it: "I'm not about to throw my presidency away. You can oppose me on legislative issues like Social Security reform and tax cuts. We can both of us bend and compromise here and there on the likes of those. "But the nomination and confirmation of a justice of the Supreme Court is an issue of greatest constitutional moment. You are not going to hijack me on this one. "This is where I draw the line. "Get this straight. Step across this line, and you are declaring war on this president of the United States of America. The presidency is still the greatest, most-powerful institution in the world. Make no mistake: I will use every weapon in the presidential arsenal that the Constitution has given me to protect this presidency. Not a War to Lose "It would be a bloody battle, but when it is all over I will have won and you will have lost. "If you are testing me, consider me tested. "Take this message back to every last member of the Senate: Declare war on me, and war you will get. "It doesn't have to be that way. "There is a better way. Stop the childish, asinine campaign to smear this good woman and cut my throat. Back off, and tell your selfish-interest lobbying groups to back off. Is Asking Fairness Too Much? "Give Harriet Miers a fair and honest hearing in the Judiciary Committee, the authentic examination the Constitution expects of you. Then send her name on to the floor of the Senate. "There, each 100 of you, stand up like the Constitution expects you to do and give her an up-or-down vote. "I can live with that outcome. So can you. "It is not as though I have sent to you some kind of political hack, although, God knows, earlier presidents have sent some goats like that to the Senate and the Senate has put black robes on them. "I have sent to you an honest, intelligent, qualified attorney who not only has common sense – we could stand more of that on the court – but who also really does know constitutional law from having worked with its local application in the real world out there where people actually live. Where the Constitution Applies "Does anyone actually think that great corporations she has represented are oblivious to the constitutional implications of what they do and don't do? One uneducated, ill-advised piece of legal strategy Harriet Miers crafted for them could have sent any of them into bankruptcy. That never happened. "Do you really believe that grappling with day-to-day issues city councils have to face has nothing to do with the Constitution? Too bad more justices with that kind of experience were not on the Supreme Court when it made its recent ruling on the exercise by local governments of the power of eminent domain over private-property rights. "I am proud of this nominee, just as I am proud of my previous nominee. Some of you didn't care for him, either. I was not about to withdraw the name of now-Chief Justice Roberts, and I am not about to withdraw the name of Harriet Miers or accept her withdrawal. Worth Heeding "I do not prefer to go to war with you over this. But I will if I have to. My best advice to you is this: Don't mess with Texas on this one. "We already have a war on terror on our hands. We don't need another. "But if it comes to it, I am quite prepared to wage – and win – war on two fronts. "Now, I urge you to go back up on the Hill and do your duty. I am more than ready to do mine down here at the White House." The bet from this corner is that the American people would give their president a rousing endorsement. The country is sick to death of the likes of Congress, both sides of the aisle. What's There to Lose? If that turns out to be a losing bet, so be it. The president would be no worse off than if he were to emasculate himself, as his bi-partisan critics are urging him to do. Even if the Senate should reject his nominee, the president would still be better off with the American people for having tried than if he were to cave without a fight. This president has what it takes to stand down the political Lilliputians who swarm the Beltway. This is no Waterloo that George W. Bush faces if he chooses to fight, but it is a Rubicon he must cross. He has what it takes to wade in. John L. Perry, a prize-winning newspaper editor and writer who served on White House staffs of two presidents, is a regular columnist for NewsMax.com. Read John Perry's columns here. Editor's note: Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
Print Page 
Forward Page 
|
| All Rights Reserved © 2010 NewsMax.Com |