by TChris

President Bush complains about "obstructionist" Democrats whenever he doesn't get his way (although he may soon be complaining about obstructionist Republicans who don't want to support a plan to dismantle social security that will get them voted out of office). As the New York Times editorial page suggests today, the President invites obstruction with his "in your face" style of governance.

President Bush likes to complain about the divisive atmosphere in Washington. But he has contributed to it mightily by choosing federal judges from the far right of the ideological spectrum. He started his second term with a particularly aggressive move: resubmitting seven nominees whom the Democrats blocked last year by filibuster.

The editorial recognizes that the success of the President's "ideological crusade" depends upon the willingness of Senate Republicans to change the rules that protected them when they were the minority party.

Republican leaders now claim that judicial nominees are entitled to an up-or-down vote. This is rank hypocrisy. When the tables were turned, Republicans filibustered President Bill Clinton's choice for surgeon general, forcing him to choose another. And Bill Frist, the Senate majority leader, who now finds judicial filibusters so offensive, himself joined one against Richard Paez, a Clinton appeals court nominee.

The editorial warns that the nuclear option may endanger "one of the great institutions in American democracy, the United States Senate," by encouraging Democrats to ignore the tradition of unanimous consent, making it nearly impossible for the Senate to conduct its business. If, that is, Senate Democrats have the courage to act as the opposition party.