Presient Obama walks back Sotomayor comments-Is the Sotomayor nomination in trouble? [View All]

Just watching MSNBC right now with Hardball with David Schuster and they have major breaking news coverage that the President in his interview with Brian Williams for the NBC special on Tuesday and Wednesday on life inside the Obama White House withdrew the Sotomayor comments on "wise latina experiences." Now, they say that she'll do this herself next week in private meetings with senators and say it in her confirmation hearings as well. This is bad bad bad bad. The W.H. should be on the offensive with this nomination the way that the W.H. was in 2005 during the Roberts nomination. You don't want the nomination battle framed by your opponents. That's what happened in 1987 (?) with the Bork nomination. The democrats of the day pounded Bork into the ground. Remember Senator Kennedy's dramatic speech for the ages on the senate floor the day of the nomination that sent the Reagan White House into full damage control mode. Killing the Bork nomination was probably one of the signature accomplishments of Senator Kennedy and thank god he did. However, I guess we got Bork in the form of Clarence Thomas in 1991 but at least Bork was killed. If you remember in 2005, the Harriet Miers nomination battle started off relatively all right but leaks of information by Drudge and conservative outcry eventually led the W.H. from strong defence to tepid defence to walkback to withdrawal.

One has to be careful here. The conservatives have placed the W.H. on the defensive with this nomination. They need to get back on the offence and rather quickly. I can see doing this by having her wow the senators in her private meetings next week and also by eventually delivering a coommand performance at the confirmation hearings that will leave the media breathless with praise.

However, tell me if you think I'm right with this bottom line: Right now, the Sotomayor confirmation is in trouble and the White House is on the defensive while conservatives are on the attack and framing the debate. However, through a skillful walkback next week in private meetings with the senate and through a performance for the ages during her confirmation hearings, the W.H. will place the GOP on the defensive and the Mayor nomination will end up with 70-80 senate votes.

Still though for a chicken little like me with something as important as a supreme court nomination where the stakes couldn't be higher for our president and our majorites, I don't like this at all. I want to see Sotomayor confirmed in a way that doesn't hurt the president's approval ratings and that doesn't give the GOP life.

Lastly, I do admit that David Schuster is a freak for even a hint of scandal. Remember his ridiculous attempts in December of 2008 to tie the president to Blagoivich. However, something like this when you're dealing with the 2nd most important decision (apart from war) that the president will ever make is not fun. If I'm going insane here, feel free to correct me. lol. I have a pit in my stomach. Maybe it's time for another week-long or so break from cable news.