Our presidential report card graders Jed Babbin and John Zogby debated President Obama’s response to the death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, and Babbin found several administration foreign policy fumbles to grab.
John Zogby
“Justice Antonin Scalia passed away suddenly and unfortunately. The death of the Supreme Court’s leading constitutional scholar may end up leading to the worst constitutional crisis this country has faced in many decades. The legitimately elected president unquestionably has the authority to nominate someone to fill the vacancy on the court. The legitimately elected GOP majority in the Senate has the authority to review and reject a nominee. Mr. Obama has said he will select a successor fairly soon; GOP leader Mitch McConnell has insisted — with the support of his caucus — on waiting until a new president is elected before any appointment is filled.
“This is almost as big a deal as when Abraham Lincoln had to decide whether or not to fortify Fort Sumter. He knew what the consequences would be and he did it.
“But the week belongs to the president. Constitutionally, no one can tell him not to perform one of the duties he was elected to do. Mr. Obama remains steadfast in a storm not of his making — and his opponents will please their base but get hurt in the controversy.”
Grade B+
Jed Babbin
“President Obama gets an ‘A’ for hypocrisy this week after blasting Republicans for saying they’d block his attempt to get another liberal justice on the Supreme Court to replace Justice Antonin Scalia, the intellectual leader of the court’s conservative wing. When it was pointed out that Obama joined a 2006 filibuster of Justice Samuel Alito’s nomination, White House spokesman Josh Earnest had to retreat quickly, saying the president regretted his decision to join that filibuster.
“Meanwhile, the president was entirely silent on Iran’s drive toward a massive military buildup, adding aircraft and tanks to its over $8 billion shopping list at the Russian arms bazaar.
“Meanwhile, it was revealed that one of the terrorists released by Obama from Gitmo, Ibrahim al Qosi, previously an aide to Osama bin Laden, had popped up as a principal spokesman for al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. Last, but definitely not least, it was reported that despite Obama’s vaunted reforms of the Veterans Administration, calls to the Veterans Administration’s suicide hotline were going to voicemail.”
Grade D
John Zogby is the senior analyst for Zogby Analytics and author (with Joan Snyder Kuhl) of “The First Globals: Understanding, Managing, and Unleashing our Millennial Generation.” Follow him at @TheJohnZogby.
Jed Babbin is an Examiner contributor and former deputy undersecretary of defense in administration of former President George H.W. Bush. Follow him @jedbabbin.
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected].
