This is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf.  Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all of my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist.  This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

Over the last few days, I have watched a lot of hours of the confirmation proceedings for Judge Kentanji Brown Jackson as she has been nominated for elevation to the U.S. Supreme Court.

It has not been a process that instills hope in those of us who have worked in politics over the years. 

Rather it is more political theater as various actors work hard to take center stage.  Most of them are Republicans who may not support Judge Jackson’s appointment, but, beyond that, have turned the process into a charade.  If I was a ticket buyer for this piece of political theater, I would want my money back!

Still and all, it appears Judge Jackson’s nomination is on the way to approval in the Senate, if only with 51 votes, though it remains possible that two or three Republicans will sign on.  Her performance during her confirmation hearing this week has been impressive for its restraint and general grace.

Truth be told, various commentators agree with me on the debitsd of the process for Judge Jackson – or, better put, I agree with them.

FROM DAN BALZ IN THE WASHINGTON POST

“Supreme Court confirmation hearings have become predictable, more performative politics than honest inquiry. There are still moments of rigorous questioning and intellectual discussion about the court and cases and judicial philosophy.  But partisanship rules the hearing room — as it rules so much else — and few if any votes are likely to be changed by the exchanges between senators and Jackson.

“Senators play to various audiences, and the hearings offer a convenient platform for them to position themselves for the future.  It’s clear that, for those like (senators) Cruz, Hawley and others, the people they are trying to reach are conservative voters who might be attracted to them if they run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024.

“Given that environment, the guiding principle for any nominee is:  First, do no harm. That’s been Jackson’s approach this week. She has been careful and generally constrained throughout, offering her methodology as a jurist rather than stating a philosophy and at times couching her approach to her role as a judge in conservative language.”

FROM JENNIFER RUBIN, ALSO IN THE POST

“Let’s also acknowledge the obvious:  Cruz, Hawley and other Republicans operate as content providers for right-wing media, generating clips designed to upset and anger the MAGA base. They are competing to be the most aggressive in anticipation of possible presidential runs.

“The media in particular fails to convey the visual image of angry White men screaming and interrupting a Black woman, who dares not show anger for fear of being labeled unprofessional or lacking the correct temperament.  Combined with the insinuations about her “softness” on child pornography and thehysterics on critical race theory, the aggression barely masked the Republican outpouring of White grievance.”

FROM CHARLES BLOW IN THE NEW YORK TIMES

“Senate Judiciary Committee hearings for Supreme Court nominees have long drifted into the realm of inconsequential theater.

“Rarely is there any true attempt to discern nominees’ qualifications for the job, or what might disqualify them.  Since President George W. Bush got slapped down for nominating his White House counsel, Harriet Miers, to replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O’Connor in 2005, presidents have, for the most part, been careful to ensure that nominees have defensible — and often exemplary — pedigrees.

“At the same time, the confirmation process has devolved into a petty partisan exercise.  The party with the most votes in the Senate will get its way, regardless of what the hearings may reveal.”

FROM ATLANTIC MAGAZINE

“This week’s events provided a platform for senators to harp on their favorite issues, and to slap back at colleagues for past slights, with Jackson ‘relegated to bystander.’   Republican senators used the opportunity to settle scores.  Asking senators not to grandstand is, of course, like asking a river to run uphill.  But although these moments don’t tell us much about what kind of justice Jackson might be, they are useful for showing just how angry many Republicans remain about Democrats’ treatment of Justice Amy Coney Barrett and Justice Brett Kavanaugh.”

CONCLUSION

Confirmation processes for U.S. Supreme Court justice nominees used to be about such facts as judicial qualifications, legal scholarship, and temperament. 

Today, they have become acts in a play almost unrelated to credentials.  They have taken on the form of soapboxes for obnoxious senators who hijack the process for their own ends.  As one columnist put it, “Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee preen, posture, and hurl red meat at their supporters.”

Or another:  “In the end, the allure of media attention coupled with the strong gravitational pull of the right fringe of their party proved too much for many Republicans to resist.”

It’s time for such over-the-top processes to end.  If the motive is to get even for the last slight, this will never end.

I wish for a return to political sanity. 

Senator Cory Booker got there this week when he cut through Republican ugliness to celebrate Judge Jackson for her rise against racism, as well as her personal restraint and grace under pressure.