Paul Campos, writing over at the “Lawyers Guns & Money” blog has a piece I highly recommend reviewing if you feel at all inclined. While he unearths little more about Kagan’s political beliefs than was revealed in the nomination hearings, he does begin to show us a picture of Kagan’s past that has not received the attention it probably should receive… but who in the mainstream media would we really expect to do this kind of research anyway? I can’t think of anyone. Whatever the piece’s weaknesses, I think anyone would agree with me that the piece is certainly compelling journalism.
I found two things particularly interesting about Kagan after reading the piece: First, her ability to land not just good jobs… but great jobs… is really astonishing. If you ever doubted the ability of connections to influence your career, you had best rid yourself of that notion immediately. Second, it surprised me just how deeply Kagan is connected to Washington Elite… both because of her connections to the Clinton administration as well as those she gained as dean at harvard – a position she appeared to be quite unqualified for albeit groomed for it seems.
Campos concludes thusly:
Indeed, Obama’s nomination of Kagan suggests that, for all his talk of “change,” he is himself at heart a comfortable denizen of Establishment America – that place where people with the right sorts of resumes rotate profitably between Wall Street, Washington, and the Ivy League, while praising each other for having “good judgment,” and being “reasonable” and “non-partisan.”
The relative ease with which Elena Kagan is being confirmed to a lifetime appointment on the Supreme Court illustrates the extent to which Establishment America believes that a member of the club in good standing – someone who has gone to the right schools, and gotten the right kinds of jobs, and befriended the right sorts of people – can be counted on to do the right thing, even though her own legal and political views remain largely unknown. Naturally, from the establishment’s perspective, the right thing is to do nothing that might seriously disturb any of the social arrangements that continue to serve its interests so well. And in the end, Obama’s faith in Kagan is most likely based on a well-warranted belief that, as a Supreme Court justice, she will prove to be as acceptable to that establishment as Obama himself.
While this isn’t really that harsh of a critique… It certainly is not praise… and does not indicate to me Kagan will be much more than a dependable liberal vote on the court… which is exactly what Obama wants.
Elections have consequences people… you gotta remember that.