Bush wants a woman, for a Supreme Court appointment, that is, and even Laura, that penultimate Stepford wife, is exerting her influence, in a overt way for once, to try to make this come about. Edith Clements is the obvious choice. For one thing, she was Bush's apparent choice to replace Rehnquist, right up until the time Bush did a 360 and picked John Roberts. This had to have been a dissappointment to Clements, who really was inordinately inconveneionced by what many took as a ruse on Bush's part to spring Roberts on the nation. In short, Bush kind of owes the woman a degree of consideration.
But there is more to it than that. In the wake of recent events in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, Clements may be seen as an acceptable alternative to other female judges that have been put under extreme scrutiny by the democrats lately as being not just conservative, but out of the mainstream, possibly even to the point where they might be considered conservtive activist judges along the lines of a Scalia or a Thomas.
If Clements is nominated, she too will come under the same scrutiny, but it would be easy to make a case that she would be unlikely to come down in any judicail proceedings with a decision that might negate past civil rights gains, for example, or for entitements aimed at helping the poor and the dispossessed, especially in the face of such a tragedy that her region recently sufferred. In fact, this could turn out to be just another cog in the wheel of Bush's getting back on track with his pronouncements and assertions of the doctrine of "compasionate conservativism".
On the other hand, it might be too easy for this to become yet another ruse to distract from any questions concerning Judge Clements' stands on Pro-Choice vs Pro-Life issues, Affirmative Action, Labor Rights, Environmental Issues, etc.
Of course, Judge Clements is likely to be as conservative on any issue, including those of the poor and dispossessed, as that of any of the other consevative judges that have been mentioned as potential Bush appointees. And probably will be, if she is the person nominated. Maybe in some cases she might even be more conservative. But as an appointee from the New Orleans area, Judge Clements-and Bush-can use the New Orleans tragedy to great dramatic and emotional effect, and probably will.
