Why it is Imperative to vote for a Democratic President

On the basis of polls conducted across various groups of voters, many columnists have expressed the view that Barack Obama can lose the Presidential election in November in a year in which the Democrats are heavily favored to win many seats in both houses of Congress. The most important factor in this loss is attributed to the Clinton voters that Obama may not be able to win over in uniting the Democratic party.

I offer a compelling reason as to why such voters should vote for a Democratic President.

The two most important legacies left by a President are the consequences of war and the appointments of justices to the Supreme Court. Congress has an important say in whether or not to authorize a war, thus providing “checks and balances” of the Founding Fathers so that “no one man can run the government the way he sees fit.” The fact that this was not fully adhered to in the Iraq War will be a matter for historians and constitutional scholars to debate in the future.

But the appointment of justices to the Supreme Court can have a long-standing effect on the rights of all citizens.

John McCain has said, “For decades now, some federal judges have taken it upon themselves to pronounce and rule on matters that were never intended to be heard in courts or decided by judges.”

President Bush has often expressed contempt for judges who “legislate from the bench.” But Bush expressed no contempt whatsoever against the Supreme Court justices who legislated from the bench and put him into office as President with a 5-4 margin in the 2000 elections. His contempt for activist judges occurred after that ruling.

John McCain has gone on record stating that John Roberts and Samuel Alito have “met my high standards” for a Supreme Court justice. Roberts and Alito join conservative justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas who in the last three years are moving the Supreme Court in a direction opposite to that of the Court’s history under Chief Justice Earl Warren.

Jeffrey Toobin writes in the May 26, 2008 issue of The New Yorker:

“. . . the Roberts court has crippled school desegregation efforts; limited the reach of job-discrimination laws; and made it more difficult to challenge the mixing of church and state.”

Justice Stephen Breyer’s assessment of his new colleagues is very disturbing to say the least: “It is not often in the law that so few have so quickly changed so much.”

The next President will most likely have one certain appointment when 88-year-old Justice Stevens retires and possibly another if 75-year-old Justice Ginsburg decides to retire. It is very clear in which direction McCain will take the Supreme Court.

Therefore it is imperative that ALL Democratic voters check their “emotional baggage” at the door and let their heads rule in November in voting for the Democratic Presidential nominee. Failure to do so will cause lasting damage to the progress that has been made in civil and individual rights over the last fifty years.