Obama will be able to reshape the judiciary more than any president in generations. Will this, “Show me the middle, the center be damned,” president really advocate for Sup. Ct. versions of Dawn Johnsen? He hasn’t done much for her nomination to head the OLC – she languishes unvoted on in the senate.

Obama has adopted many, thankfully not all, of Bush’s policies. Will he adopt them in his Sup. Ct. nominations, too? Two more executive power over individual rights justices and kiss the Constitution as we know it goodbye for your lifetime.

Sorry…..that was pretty harsh!

Let’s not forget Obama’s basic premise — ‘yes, things are fucked up…..but out of these ashes we can build a newer, better model going forward’. This is what excites me.

Mr. Krugman, in “State of Paralysis,” says the Golden State’s political system has been unable to deal with the recession. Does California’s political paralysis foreshadow the future of the nation as a whole?

Were I a betting person, I’d put every cent on a big, fat miserable “Yes”. As long as the t-bag mentality is fueled by multiple factors (including stupidity), that is the only direction the country as a whole *can* go. :-(((

Sen. Ben Nelson, a Nebraska Democrat who helped negotiate a compromise to avoid filibusters aimed at President George W. Bush’s judicial nominees, said the law alone should be the guide on whether nominees are seated. He also kept open the filibuster option.

“We don’t want to have to read judges’ minds. So I think that’s the test _ will they be an activist or not?” Nelson said. “I would hope that there wouldn’t be any circumstances that would be so extreme with any of the president’s nominees that the other side would feel the need to filibuster or that I might feel the need to filibuster in a case of extraordinary circumstances.”