Alanis Morissette, please pay attention:
When Long Beach, Indiana, native John G. Roberts was up for confirmation to become U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice, he did not get the vote of then U.S. Sen. Barack Obama.
The freshman from Illinois would say in 2005, “The problem I had is that when I examined Judge Roberts’ record and history of public service, was that it was his personal estimation that he has far more often used his formidable skills on behalf of the strong in opposition to the weak.”
And Obama added of his no vote, “I hope that I am wrong. I hope that this reticence on my part proves unjustified and that Judge Roberts will show himself to not only be an outstanding legal thinker but also someone who upholds the Court’s historic role as a check on the majoritarian impulses of the executive branch and the legislative branch.”
On Thursday, in dramatic fashion, it was Chief Justice Roberts who cast the deciding vote upholding Obamacare and the individual mandate that has ignited the Tea Party firestorm engulfing Indiana and American politics.
What irony.
Indeed. "An ironic twist," it says in the headline, but it should really be "ironic switch" since Roberts seems to have gone off the deep end at the last minute.
Sen. Obama hoped Roberts would be someone to uphold "the Court's historic role as a check on the majoritarian impulses of the executive and the legislative branch." But what Roberts did here was legitimize those majoritarian impulses. "The powerful" will benefit most from Obamacare, and "the weak" will be hurt the most. But Barry likes Johnny just fine now, huh?
