Triumphant Return, Courtesy of Grave Concerns

I apologize for my absence. I have recently started a new course at work, and last week I was working from 5 AM to 9PM, leaving me with little or no energy to devote to political commentary. That, and I was a bit out of the loop. Feel free to give me specific political issues of concern from the last week if you think they deserve my attention.

My focus this week is the President's nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the SCOTUS. This, as I warned all of my left-leaning friends during the election, is the inevitable result of playing identity politics. As has been stated in pretty much every newspaper of note (with varying degrees of admiration by the usual rags), Sotomayor makes her decisions through the lens of her own personal experiences as an immigrant. To this, I can only respond that I am thankful that she is only on the 2nd Circuit. She has actually explicitly stated that she thinks a Hispanic woman is better suited to being a judge than a white man, simply by virtue of her perspective. As RS McCain says, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?! The last time I checked, there was the delightful little concept of "impartiality" to protect. Are we to be held hostage now by sympathies to identity groups?

Ironically, no. If you pay close attention, you'll notice that Democrats play a particularly vile brand of identity politics. They will absorb a group into their "big tent", though I'd use the term collective, and then should this group not adhere exactly to the greater plan they will be ignored. Take for instance the black community in California; they voted overwhelmingly in favour of President Obama. However, the vast majority of the President's economic policies will have no demonstrable impact on black poverty. In fact, one could argue that his economic policies will hurt black families because the areas he is targeting with "stimulus" are predominantly the reserve of bleeding heart upper middle class white people. I fail to see how protecting the snail darter is rewarding the black community. Furthermore, gays voted overwhelmingly Democrat as well, and yet they are getting no help on the marriage issue. As HillBuzz has pointed out, it's an issue of language rather than rights. However, a continued battle on gay marriage is of interest to the Democratic party, and so gays will continue to vote for them and get nothing in exchange.

President Obama is the apotheosis of this ruthless and unethical way. He used a groundswell of feeling by identity groups like blacks and disenfranchised youth to gain power, but he's not accepting any kind of reciprocal responsibility. He promised them Hope and Change. He'll bring them death, and they will love him for it.