Charles Krauthammer And The Little Exit Strategy That Could...

Miers: The Only Exit Strategy

By Charles Krauthammer

"It's no secret that I think the Harriet Miers nomination was a mistake. Nonetheless, when asked how she will do in her confirmation hearings, my answer is, I hope she does well. I have no desire to see her humiliated. Nor would I take any joy in seeing her rejected, though I continue to believe it would be best for the country that she not be confirmed to the Supreme Court.

And while I remain as exercised as anyone by the lack of wisdom of this choice, I part company with those who see the Miers nomination as a betrayal of conservative principles. The idea that Bush is looking to appoint some kind of closet liberal David Souter or even some rudderless Sandra Day O'Connor clone is wildly off the mark. The president's mistake was thinking he could sneak a reliable conservative past the liberal litmus tests (on abortion, above all) by nominating a candidate at once exceptionally obscure and exceptionally well known to him.

The problem is that this strategy blew up in his face. Her obscurity is the result of her lack of constitutional history, which, in turn, robs her of the minimum qualifications for service on the Supreme Court. And while, post-Robert Bork, stealth seems to be the most precious asset a conservative Supreme Court nominee can have, how stealthy is a candidate who has come out publicly for a constitutional amendment to ban abortion?

Hence the perfectly honorable way to solve the conundrum: Miers withdraws out of respect for both the Senate and the executive's prerogatives, the Senate expresses appreciation for this gracious acknowledgment of its needs and responsibilities, and the White House accepts her decision with the deepest regret and with gratitude for Miers's putting preservation of executive prerogative above personal ambition.

Faces saved. And we start again."

And an exit strategy becomes useless once it is presented for the world's perusal, so if there IS a backdoor built into all of this Miers folderol, the White House is wise to keep it close to the vest.

As someone who over-thinks every bloody thing imaginable, I'd postulate that this was all a ruse to begin with, counting on the fact that the Republican Party would rally en masse to support the second choice, whomever it might be, thusly paving the way for a Janice Rogers Brown.

Yeah, I know, I know. Rove is preoccupied and who else would be that Machiavellian.

As to Mr. Krauthammer's proclamation of the painfully obvious, yes indeed it would behoove Mz Miers to pull the pin and pull it soon. And if she is half the team player they purport her to be, she will.