Thursday, April 05, 2012
Laurence Tribe's transporting flackitude
Laurence Tribe, who is usually a smart person, is unintentionally hilarious on Barack Obama's lecturing of the United States Supreme Court:
“Presidents should generally refrain from commenting on pending cases during the process of judicial deliberation,” said Harvard Law professor Laurence Tribe, a close Obama ally. “Even if such comments won’t affect the justices a bit, they can contribute to an atmosphere of public cynicism that I know this president laments.” (bold emphasis added)Is there a shred of evidence for the president's lamentations? Because if Barack Obama actually laments "an atmosphere of public cynicism," he must be the world's all-time most regretful person.
3 Comments:
By 
PD Quig, at
Thu Apr 05, 07:50:00 PM:
I think Tripe (sp intentional) meant "foments"...not "laments."
By Georg Felis, at
Fri Apr 06, 08:03:00 AM:
No, I think he has it right. Its the 21st Century Conan:
Mongol General: Hao! Dai ye! We won again! This is good, but what is best in life?
Mongol: The open road, fast cars, Secret Service at your call, and the campaign contribution in your pocket.
Mongol General: Wrong! Conan! What is best in life?
Conan: To crush your enemies, see them driven to bankruptcy before you, and to hear the lamentation of their tax preparers.
Mongol General: That is good! That is good.
By 
, at
Fri Apr 06, 04:38:00 PM:
Larry Tribe is finally figuring Obama out. Recall that last year Tribe publicly intervened when Obama was seriously considering blowing through the debt ceiling without Congressional approval. It may have made the difference.
Tribe is a principled liberal, and a “Constitutionalist”. You and I and he may not always agree, but he accepts the American Constitution as a framework, for its Rules of Engagement, and even for the limitations it imposes on governmental power. Tribe may love the American Constitution more than any of us.
Obama doesn’t. Years ago he made that clear when he talked about the courts being ineffectual at achieving “social justice” – instead Obama has said you need “enabling legislation” and “electoral muscle” -- not quite his words, but that’s the idea.
Socialist movements usual start with some Pied Piper singing “we’re all in this together”. Obama adds what he learned from Alinsky and Chicago politics. It’s a real witch’s brew. It’s all about fostering divisions and then exploiting them. The net/net is that the group with “juice” gets the bigger slice of the pie.
I suspect Obama the Chameleon will talk one way with Big Liberals, like Larry Tribe -- quite another with his more radical inner circle.
