PUTTING THE NOISE MACHINE IN ITS PLACE….Ezra Klein isn’t sure that Barack Obama made the right choice by tapping Eric Holder as his nominee for attorney general:
It’s hard for me to believe that Obama couldn’t find anyone for the post who wasn’t the workhorse behind Bill Clinton’s pardon of fugitive financier Marc Rich. Holder, obviously, was just doing his job, but appearances matter in this town. Republicans will have no problem attacking the choice, and your average voter will be rather confused as to why Obama made it. Whatever Holder’s merits — and I grant that they are many — it’s a nomination that recalls the worst of the Clinton era, and it’s not clear why that needed to be done.
Leaving Holder’s broader merits (or lack thereof) to one side, I’d offer a different take on this: do we really want to hamstring ourselves by worrying too much about what kind of temper tantrum the Republican Party is likely to throw over Obama’s nominees? I don’t doubt they’ll do their best to smear Holder, but the Rich pardon happened eight years ago and Holder’s role in it was fairly modest. Obviously it’s not a good idea to give Republicans too many free shots early in his term, but if Obama truly thinks Holder is the best man for the job, then I think he’s done the right thing. Let the talk show clowns wail and the congressional leadership send out their streams of faux outraged press releases. This is a pretty good chance to show that this stuff just doesn’t work anymore, and I’ll bet Obama realizes it.
