What I admire about Obama, Emmanuel, and Pelosi

In many ways, I'm the opposite of an admirer of Barack Obama, Rahm Emmanuel, and Nancy Pelosi.  But I have to admit to a certain admiration for the toughness (one might say ruthlessness) with which they are prosecuting their political agenda.  Many of my fellow Republicans and conservatives are expressing indignation and resentment at their tactics---the arm twisting, the back room dealing, the demonization of some companies and industries, the coopting of others, the aggressive attacks on their critics. And I will confess that some of the things they've done, especially the dissembling ("all the negotiations will be on C-Span") and the vote buying (as with the Lousiana Purchase and the Cornhusker Kickback) are clearly over the line.  My advice to folks on my side, though, is to spend less time expressing outrage at the left-wing Democrats and more time learning from them.  I've given this advice before.  The last time was when the Republicans had a great victory in the 2002 midterm elections.  I'll reprint below the relevant part of my deliberately provocatively titled piece "No Time for Magnanimity."  My bottom line was that left-wing Democrats "are not timid about exercising political power when they come into possession of it.  Nor should Republicans be."  (I think it's now pretty obvious that I was right in saying that left-wing Democrats---especially, I would now add, those who came up through the Chicago and San Francisco machines---are not timid about exercising power.)  The time is coming, probably sooner rather than later, when the Republicans will regain control of one or possibly both houses of Congress.  I trust that they will pursue policies quite different from those of Obama, Emmanuel, and Pelosi.  But I hope that they learn from their adversaries' admirably aggressive and unsentimental determination to win, and thus to advance the causes they believe in.  I hope that they will, for example, fight for legal protection for unborn children (including those with Down Syndrome and other disabilities) just as aggressively and uncompromisingly as their opponents fight to deny the unborn legal protection and to ensure that public money is made available to destroy them when they are deemed by their parents to be inconvenient or unwanted.

No Time for Magnanimity - Republicans, act!
National Review Online ^ | November 8, 2002 | Robert P. George

. . .  Liberals in the Democratic party believe in their causes (however misguided) and are willing to fight for them. They play to win. Contrary, however, to what some Republicans sometimes say, the Democrats (well, most of them, anyway) do not believe in winning merely for its own sake. They believe in winning in order to advance their ideological goals and achieve their policy objectives.

On Tuesday we won. But if our victory is to mean anything, we must act with determination to advance our causes. You can be certain that the ideological hard Left — whose grip on the apparatus of the Democratic party was strengthened by the results on Tuesday — is prepared to act with nothing less than determination to stop us.

. . . We need to move aggressively on the issues that our candidates campaign[ed] on. At the top of the list is antiterrorism and national security. But there is more, including tax reform and economic growth, enhanced legal protection for the unborn, partially born, and newly born, a ban on all forms of human cloning, and passage of the president's faith-based initiative.

An issue on which President Bush — to his great credit — campaigned vigorously and unceasingly as he toured the country touting Republican senatorial candidates is the confirmation of judges he has appointed and will appoint to fill vacancies in the federal courts. The Democrat-controlled senate — playing to win — has spent two years doing everything it can to prevent the president's nominees — men and women of unsullied honor and proven ability — from getting a confirmation vote or, in many cases, even a hearing. Now it is our turn to play to win.

The first priority of the Senate under Republican leadership should be to rectify a particularly egregious wrong. The worst of the many sins committed by the ultraliberal Senate Judiciary Committee after Jim Jeffords defection transferred control to the Democrats was the trashing of Texas Supreme Court Justice Priscilla Owen. Despite her distinguished record on the bench — one that earned her a "well-qualified" rating even from the liberal American Bar Association — the Democrats killed her nomination to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit for one simple reason: She declined to interpret a Texas law regarding parental consent to abortion in the way favored by pro-abortion liberals.

By defeating the nomination of Justice Owen, the left-wing Democrats sought to lay down a marker. Their goal was to establish the proposition that any nominee, however well qualified, who did not strictly toe the liberal line on abortion was "out of the mainstream" and unfit to hold federal judicial office.

President Bush should revive the nomination of Priscilla Owen. Trent Lott should schedule a floor debate and vote on her nomination at the earliest possible moment. Let Teddy Kennedy and Barbara Boxer howl. Then defeat them. There is no need for further hearings. No one seriously doubts that that Justice Owen is highly qualified for the job. Everybody knows why left-wing Democrats wants to deprive her of it.

It is time for Republicans to lay down a marker of our own: We must make clear our determination to secure the appointment of judges who will interpret the Constitution and laws faithfully.

There should be no thought of compromising to appease left-wing Democrats. What we should do, rather, is learn from them. They are not timid about exercising political power when they come into possession of it. Nor should Republicans be.

— Robert P. George is McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence and Director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University. His most recent book is The Clash of Orthodoxies.