Can this marriage be saved?

Picking up the marriage metaphor I used last night but taking it in a more hopeful direction, Peggy Noonan urges the president to admit he was wrong, withdraw the Miers nomination, pick a genuine conservative judge in her stead, and repair his damaged marriage with his conservative supporters. I hope this happens. But I think there is a serious obstacle in its path, namely George W. Bush. As I see it, his behavior in nominating and defending Miers has revealed a genuine hostility toward conservatives and conservatism. Picking a solid conservative judge at this point (probably a female) would require a fight by the White House to get her through the Senate. But Bush has just made it plain he has no desire for a conservative judge, and certainly no desire to fight against Senate liberals to confirm one (he’s rather fight conservatives, whom he truly dislikes). So I can’t see any plausible way this terrible situation can be resolved, other than what I predicted last night, that Miers will be confirmed as a result of solid Democratic support (as Ed Morrissey pointed out at VFR last night), and that Bush will then proceed to move to the left and form a governing arrangement with the Democrats and against conservative Republicans. I hope this nightmare scenario is wrong and that the president follows Peggy Noonan’s irenic promptings.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at October 13, 2005 10:45 AM | Send