Ding, dong the pick is dead! Bush’s ill-advised pick to the Supreme Court, Harriet Miers, that is.
While Ms. Miers was obviously a loyal administrator for President Bush and may be a fantastic person, there can be no doubt that she was a disastrous choice for the Supreme Court. I’ll spare you a recap of the many reasons why, which the flickering light of your computer monitor has probably engraved upon your retinas by now.
More interesting at this point, is a quick post-game analysis of why Bush made such a horrendous, embarrassing and potentially historic mistake. Loyalty/Cronyism no doubt played a part –being one of Bush’s greatest strengths/faults as a leader (depending on one’s perspective). A now chronic under-appreciation of the fact that conservatives are loyal to their principles, not mindlessly obedient to any man or party, also played a role.
But a third major factor was at play here, in my estimation. And that was a serious case of “Stupidity by Excess Cleverness Syndrome,” or SECS.
SECS has been clouding men’s minds for eons. This debilitating disorder is especially prevalent in engineers, scientists, writers, and others who make a living with their thoughts - and therefore can’t wait to show just how clever they can be. It also afflicts those in politics, and it grows worse with increased time in power.
SECS is manifested as inexplicable acts of over-thinking and over-engineering relatively simple problems. For example, an engineer may need a means to tie together two panels in a prototype. He could use duct tape. But instead he builds a laser-guided electromagnetic coupling device, linked to three parallel processors and a GPS system so that it can correct for changes in humidity and tectonic drift. He feels clever. He looks stupid.
Bush could have nominated an experienced conservative jurist with an established track record of deciding cases, not making law, then guided him or her through the confirmation process. Instead . . . someone in the White House came down with a bad outbreak of SECS and decided that such a simple plan wasn’t clever enough. I mean, it’s exactly what people expected Bush to do. There’s no chance to show how clever you are there.
No, a better plan was hatched. First, Bush would consider only a woman for the job, since Democrats would be powerless to oppose a member of a recognized victim class (just ask Clarence Thomas). This narrowed down the candidate pool by about 94%, which was clever - but not clever enough.
A second layer of smart needed to be ladled on: they would pick somebody with no demonstrable thoughts. Now that’s clever. Without any writings on politics, law, culture, or the Constitution - no “paper trail” - the nominee would be a Teflon-coated Gray Ghost upon which no enemy could find a handhold. Since she stood for nothing, no one could stand against her. Unfortunately, it also meant that no one would feel a need to stand for her either. Pretty darn clever, huh? BUT NOT CLEVER ENOUGH!
NO! A third layer of genius was slopped on this plot. The female intellectual-void nominee would be a trusted Bush insider. That way, when Conservatives and other thinkers said “Who the Heck is this woman?,” Bush could cleverly say “Trust me.” (Wink, wink. Nudge, nudge!) Now that’s just clever. Then he could say, “She’s evangelical!” What more does one need to know? (Bush knew that Evangelicals have total faith in all other Evangelicals, and thus feel no need to judge them as individuals.)
And to add the cherry on the top of this cake of clever, the White House SECS offenders decided that the nominee would be: someone that Democrat Senate Leader (and noted Bush friend) Harry Reid had pre-approved! Voila! This would remove any lingering doubts of conservatives and mean strong support from the Democrats. (You saw all that support, right?) Now that’s a CLEVER strategery! At this stage, someone in Bush’s inner circle undoubtedly began quoting Sun-Tzu and press releases were prepared.
The only problem is that it wasn’t clever; it was too clever. It was a clear case of SECS. Which is why Bush got screwed.
Next time, Mr. President, keep it simple. Pick a good, solid candidate and we’ll all try to see him or her through the confirmation on merit. It’s more work, but - fortunately - it’s also a lot less clever.
