With David Souter retiring, President Obama has his first opportunity to make a mark on the U.S. Supreme Court. But the nomination process can be a minefield of potential stumbles and mistakes. If history is an indicator, Obama shouldn't have too much of a problem, especially because of the large Democratic majority in the Senate. Most nominees are confirmed. But some presidents have had more difficulty than others. The all-time loser is John Tyler, with a whopping eight failures: four of his nominations were withdrawn, one rejected, and three others died in the U.S. Senate due to lack of formal action. (Several of Tyler's nominations were of the same candidates.) Behind Tyler are Grant and Fillmore with three failures, then Washington, Madison, Polk, Cleveland, Lyndon Johnson, Nixon, and Reagan with two each. The most recent Senate rejection was Reagan's choice of Robert Bork (pictured) in 1987. The latest nominee withdrawal was George W. Bush's selection of Harriet Miers.
Major Garrett, senior White House correspondent for Fox News, caught President Barack Obama in a small but noteworthy slip up yesterday. During his speech at the summit of the Americas in Port-of-Spain, Obama took a swipe at those blaming the United States for attempting to topple Castro's Cuban government in 1961: "To move forward, we cannot let ourselves be prisoners of past disagreements. I'm grateful that President Ortega did not blame me for things that happened when I was three months old. Too often, an opportunity to build a fresh partnership of the Americas has been undermined by stale debates. We've all heard these arguments before."
But as Garrett notes, "Actually, the president misspoke on the sequence of events in Cuba. The invasion of CIA-trained rebels at the Bay of Pigs in Cuba occurred in April 1961. Obama was born August 4, 1961."
Here's a handy guide showing Obama's age during other moments in history:
We'll certainly be hearing a lot of noise the next few days regarding Barack Obama's side-meeting handshake yesterday with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. Or perhaps the hand-on-the-arm, overly friendly intimate handclasp. You can be certain that some will accuse Obama of appeasement and being too apologetic. Others will argue that we need better relations with the world and that, for goodness sakes, it was just a handshake. We'll be reminded of Chavez's greatest hit quotes:
"I hereby accuse the North American empire of being the biggest menace to our planet."
"It’s a policy of permanent aggression, of war, of terrorism by the US empire. That’s the great guilty one, the great Satan."
"The devil came here yesterday. And it smells of sulfur still today."
RightPundits.com's Cathryn Friar wrote, "The only other thing I can say is we can be relieved that The One didn't bow." Ouch. The last time a handshake received such attention was when there wasn't one between Obama and Republican Presidential Candidate Arizona Senator John McCain. Relive the moment below. (Venezuelan Government Photo)
I'll leave it to you to judge whether or not President Obama actually bowed to Saudi King Abdullah at the G20 meeting earlier this month. And I'll let you decide whether or not it was a mistake or a breach in protocol. Time will tell. For the record, the Obama administration claims it wasn't a bow, although the president later said, "We have to change our behavior in showing the Muslim world greater respect." But media reaction has been swift. Salon.com's Camille Paglia said, "I attribute that embarrassing incident not to Obama's sinister or naive appeasement of the Muslim world but to a simple if costly breakdown in basic command of protocol." Whisky Fire said it wasn't a bow, but rather a matter of geometry: "Obama is about a foot taller than Abdullah, and so had to kind of contort himself to get into any sort of position to shake the sheikh's hand." But others haven't been so kind. Michelle Malkin said, "So I hope all the lefties who tore into Bush over his Saudi prostration will express equal disgust with President HopeAndChange’s literal bowing and scraping to King Abdullah." And the Dakota Voice's Bob Ellis said, "The leader of the most free nation in the world should not be slobbering on the ring of some king!" Mistake or not, this is a fascinating discussion.
There's nothing like a presidential blunder that presents an opportunity for a quick history lesson. Such a moment came on January 20, 2009, just seconds into Barack Obama's inaugural address when he said, "Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath." Obama's speechwriter was close...but no cigar. While Obama is indeed the 44th president, only 43 men have actually taken the oath. That's because Grover Cleveland served two non-consecutive terms as the 22nd and 24th president. Cleveland was first elected in 1884, but was defeated in 1888 by Benjamin Harrison despite winning the popular vote. Cleveland made a comeback in 1892, soundly defeating Harrison.
Yep, I'm getting to be an expert on presidential blunders. Hell, I wrote a book about one of the biggest. If you want to nominate one, or if you want to yell at me, send email to prezblog@gmail.com.
With David Souter retiring, President Obama has his first opportunity to make a mark on the U.S. Supreme Court. But the nomination process can be a minefield of potential stumbles and mistakes. If history is an indicator, Obama shouldn't have too much of a problem, especially because of the large Democratic majority in the Senate. Most nominees are confirmed. But some presidents have had more difficulty than others. The all-time loser is John Tyler, with a whopping eight failures: four of his nominations were withdrawn, one rejected, and three others died in the U.S. Senate due to lack of formal action. (Several of Tyler's nominations were of the same candidates.) Behind Tyler are Grant and Fillmore with three failures, then Washington, Madison, Polk, Cleveland, Lyndon Johnson, Nixon, and Reagan with two each. The most recent Senate rejection was Reagan's choice of Robert Bork (pictured) in 1987. The latest nominee withdrawal was George W. Bush's selection of Harriet Miers.
