... is the one he had chosen.Surely this was, as The Washington Post is already writing, the safest choice. After the week he had, could we expect any more from a president who is diverted, and devoting all his time and energy to implementing Karl Rove's PR plan to counteract the damage done to him by Katrina. He may have been slow to react to what happened to the people down there-- but the aftermath, and all the negative coverage directed his way? Hey, that was personal.
So Roberts it will be. It's not only a safe choice it's a smart one for the president. Bush knows who he is getting; he was sure about Roberts when he named him a month ago, he is surer now.
The media, which suprised itself by getting it up for Katrina, expending almost all its energy down on the bayou, is not about to launch a serious investigative examination of Roberts credentials to head The Supreme Court, any more than it did before.
The only real anger will most likely be privately held by Scalia, who expected to become Chief and who has been that in his own mind since before he was even appointed to the bench. On the other hand, Thomas, apparently considered by some as a possibility for the job, is not disappointed and probably unaware anything even has happened.
Senator Kennedy and the usual others will ask for more information, more records about Roberts' prior service. But the momentum will be too much. In the end Roberts will be confirmed, Scalia will sulk, Thomas will not notice, and we will watch as The Supreme Court rapidly moves in an ever more conservative direction.
And there is still one more to come.
