Category: 
by Obama Pundit
President Obama weighed in today on the controversey over Sonia Sotomayor’s racial remarks:
President Barack Obama on Friday personally sought to deflect criticism of Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor, who finds herself under intensifying scrutiny for saying in 2001 that a female Hispanic judge would often reach a better decision than a white male judge. “I’m sure she would have restated it,” Obama flatly told NBC News, without indicating how he knew that.
This is probably a mistake on Obama’s part. He now elevates this issue to a higher level. Before, it was a topic brewing mostly on the Right, but those critics had all been marginalized as Gingrichian racists. Most likely, however, Obama’s team has polling that showed this to be a potential pitfall during her confirmation hearings (which could also be exacerbated by the pending Ricci decision). Press Secretary Robert Gibbs added:
“I think she’d say that her word choice in 2001 was poor.”
And just to confuse matters, Obama said:
“I think that when she’s appearing before the Senate committee, in her confirmation process, I think all this nonsense that is being spewed out will be revealed for what it is,” Obama said in the broadcast interview, clearly aware of how ethnicity and gender issues are taking hold in the debate.
It’s an odd quote from Obama and typical of his rhetoric, which doesn’t always hold up to logic. If the stuff being spewed out is ‘nonsense’ and will be ‘revealed for what it is’ (what stuff this is, he doesn’t say), then why did he need to say that his nominee would restate what she said? And why did his press secretary say that it was a poor choice of words?
Obama dissembles further:
“If you look in the entire sweep of the essay that she wrote, what’s clear is that she was simply saying that her life experiences will give her information about the struggles and hardships that people are going through, that will make her a good judge,”
That’s just not accurate. You can read my breakdown of the speech here. The quote is not out of context at all, but part of a theme displayed throughout the text. She clearly is comfortable with the notion that neutrality in judging is not attainable and therefore should be downplayed. She sees race and gender as valuable assets in fulfilling her role as a judge.
Sotomayor said something racially insensitive and people are legitimately questioning it. She is about to take a seat on the nation’s highest court, but she was nominated by a President who was supposed to help the nation transcend racial politics. So what is this ‘nonsense’ that Obama speaks of? Why is it okay for the Obama administration to say her statement was poorly worded, but not okay for others to criticize it? Either what she said was okay, or it was not. Clearly, Obama is uncomfortable with it, or at least worries about the effect it could have politically.
This will be up to Sotomayor to explain away, or make worse, methinks.
