When I posted this item yesterday morning and said that it would be interesting to see what President Obama had to say, I did not realize that the President, via a statement issued by his press secretary, had already responded. When I wrote the post, I thought that the situation was pretty even. The President had been able to criticize the Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United on national TV during the State of the Union address, and he had gotten lots of Democratic Senators and Representatives to stand up and cheer, while the justices had to just sit there. The Chief Justice had responded to a question from a law student at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
I thought that the President might just ignore the whole thing. He is, after all, trying to pass a big health care bill, along with trying to resurrect some form of climate change/cap-and-trade legislation and everything else he is supposed to be doing. It’s not like somebody was asking him a question about what the Chief Justice said. He could have just left it there.
Instead, the White House went into full campaign mode. Within hours, Robert Gibbs had issued a statement:
"‘What is troubling is that this decision opened the floodgates for corporations and special interests to pour money into elections - drowning out the voices of average Americans,’ Gibbs said. ‘The president has long been committed to reducing the undue influence of special interests and their lobbyists over government. That is why he spoke out to condemn the decision and is working with Congress on a legislative response.’"
In campaigns, you must not let any charge go unanswered; you must not let any opponent’s claim win a news cycle. And that is what the White House seemed to be doing here. But we’re not talking about a political campaign here. We’re not talking about an opponent (I hope). We’re talking about the Supreme Court.
President Obama’s State of the Union address was back in January. Chief Justice Roberts did not say anything until March 9 – and then he only said something in response to a question. He did not bring it up on his own. The White House, on the other hand, responded within hours and did so on its own.
I had been hoping for more out of President Obama. After all, as Jan Crawford noted, "George [W.] Bush repeatedly got slapped down" by the Supreme Court and "he never lashed out at the justices." But then maybe that’s the difference between a classy President and a schoolyard bully.
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Update (3/11/10 8:20 am): Fixed a typo in the last sentence.
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