Nomination Battle: Obama and Reid Target Hamilton and Others
WASHINGTON—President Obama and Senator Harry Reid extended their scorn for Republican obstructionism on the President’s Supreme Court nomination beyond the Senate today. Federalists and others have come under fire for their participation in blocking confirmation hearings for Judge Merrick Garland. Chief among those who find themselves the target of the Democrat’s ire is Alexander Hamilton, who played a key role in the development of the strategies being used by the Republican-controlled Senate to obstruct the nomination.
President Obama ridiculed Hamilton’s role in the battle stating, “We have a Constitution. I have fulfilled my constitutional duties. It’s time the Senate fulfill theirs. Mr. Hamilton has been aiding and abetting Republican efforts to ignore their duty. While exercising great influence at the convention that developed the Constitution, he did nothing to insert wording into Article II, Section 2 that requires the Senate to hold hearings on my nomination. This is the kind of nasty politics the American people are tired of. Americans are asking Republicans and Hamilton to do their job.”
Mr. Hamilton was not available for comment on the accusations made by the president, but PolitiFact has determined the president’s description of Mr. Hamilton’s actions to be accurate. In fact, independent research has discovered that Hamilton took the extraordinary step to convince the public that the actions of the Senate were appropriate by publishing a defense of the process in a document titled “Federalist No. 77”.
Senator Harry Reid doubled down on the president’s contention but extended the list of perpetrators even further. “Hamilton is, of course, to blame,” Reid agreed, “but that is only the tip of the obstructionist iceberg. Madison, Franklin, Jay… there are many who had a part in creating this underhanded strategy being deployed by the Republicans. Personally, I lay a large part of the blame at the feet of George Washington. He was elected unanimously to oversee the convention that generated the document guiding this obstructionist strategy. Mr. Washington has shown a complete and utter disregard for the will of the people as expressed in the 2008 and 2012 election of President Obama.”
The nomination battle will surely become more combative in the coming weeks. It is uncertain whether these new criticisms of the Republic Senate, Hamilton, and their cohorts will cause the Senate to acquiesce and do their jobs.