Post Politics Hour

Washington Post national political reporter Perry Bacon Jr. was online Monday, June 1 at 11 a.m. ET to discuss the latest news about the White House and Congress.

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Perry Bacon Jr.: Good morning. Looking forward to your questions. Perry

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Boston: So does Powell's "Pottery Barn" analogy from Iraq work for General Motors as well? Now that Obama (representing US taxpayers) owns a majority of GM, will he be held responsible for its success or failure from here on out? Is that a smart move politically given the seemingly intractable problems facing GM both internally and with the overall economy and market for new cars?

Perry Bacon Jr.: No, I don't think so. GM was already struggling to make money and survive even before President Obama (or President Bush) intervened, so it was already broken. It was already asking for U.S. government intervention. I do think Obama takes on some political risk he could have avoided by not involving the government as much in how to revamp GM, but I think he it was already a political matter because GM had asked the last administration for a bailout. No matter what Obama decided, this had become a political as well as economic issue before he started his presidency.

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Saint Paul, Minn.: Hi Perry -- Thanks for taking questions today. It seems like we're seeing some division among Republican about how far to go in criticizing Judge Sotomayor, with Gingrich and Limbaugh and company on one side, and those actually holding office on the other. Still, though, I was struck by how hesitant Sen. Sessions was to take them on yesterday when questioned on "Meet the Press."

He and others clearly want to separate themselves from that element of the party, but seem absolutely terrified of doing so. I half expect to hear him issue an apology before the day is out. Is Limbaugh's grip on the party really that strong, or will he eventually fade back to the margins?

Perry Bacon Jr.: Rush Limbaugh helps fire up the conservative faithful in the way way that Olberman, Moveon.org, etc. do liberals. I wouldn't expect Senate Democrats to spend time criticizing comments by liberal talk show hosts even if they are over the line ,and I think the same goes for conservatives. I hvae to say part of Rush's enlarged role is a media function. He says something inflammatory (that's kind of his job in some ways, getting good ratings), the press covers it (he is more interesting than Eric Cantor) and GOP office holders asked if they agree. Rush is not any more outlandish than he was two years ago, he is simply being covered more. Republicans don't want to anger him because he is a powerful figure in their base, but they're not following his advice on policy matters either.

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Richmond, Va.: Although the GOP has overreacted, the silly comment that Judge Sotomayor made about Latina women and white males illustrates perfectly why I hate the Democratic Party so much -- they are so obsessed with ethnic and gender distinctions and preferences. Clearly, Obama feels Sotomayor is a perfect pick for the Supreme Court primarily because she is both a female and Hispanic. We saw this sort of focus in the last Presidential campaign also, in the race between Obama and Hillary Clinton. The party didn't used to be this way decades ago. They were champions of the universal fight against poverty without the ugliness of PC bias.

Perry Bacon Jr.: Not sure I agree with much in this comment. The Democrats have been trying to avoid discussing affirmative action (and their support for it) since about 1993, if not earlier. No matter who won (McCain or Obama), there was going to be a push to pick a Latino justice. Two Supreme Court picks that were surely influenced by race/gender were O'Connor and Clarence Thomas, both picked by Republican presidents. Yes, I"m sure President Obama wants a qualified nominee first, but after that gender and race seemed to have played a role. I think his final four among whom he picked the justice were all women.

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South Riding, Va.: Did last year's bailout of the auto industry do any good? Since Chrystler and GM are now both in bankruptcy it seems like maybe they would have been better off (or no worse off) if the US hadn't come to their aid at the tax payer's expense. One could say that the tax payer owns parts of both companies, but with our national debt, it seems like foreign investors are the real owners.

Perry Bacon Jr.: An interesting question. I will be curious the next few days about what the polling shows on how supportive Americans are of this bailout/ownership of the auto companies and if the Obama team can frame this as a job-savings measure.

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Rolla, Mo.: Funny, I haven't heard any conservative response to Gen. Petraeus's comments from last week supporting the closure of Gitmo and application of the Geneva Convention guarantees for detainees. Is he "untouchable"? I also haven't seen those comments given any real coverage, in comparison to former VP Cheney's recent full-throated defense of (early) Bush administration policies.

Perry Bacon Jr.: For conservatives, I think President Obama is a much better opponent than Petraeus. I think Obama's problem with closing Gitmo is currently Democrats on Capitol Hill, not the military.

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Wheaton, Md.: Hello! How do you think yesterday's abortion shooting with affect the Sotomayer nomination hearing? Thanks.

Perry Bacon Jr.: Not at all is my guess. Her hearings will be weeks from now, first of all, so I'm not sure what the news focus will be by then. More importantly, I think race and her views both in speeches and on the bench is becoming the big issue around her nomination, as she has said and done little on abortion.

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Philadelphia: South Riding just asked,

"Did last year's bailout of the auto industry do any good?"

At the time the country was in a panic over the state of the economy and allowing GM to go under would have fed into that panic.

Perry Bacon Jr.: This is a good point and one you could probably extend to $700 billion bailout Congress passed that has been much criticized since. It largely did its job, forestalling a larger economic crash.

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Re: Richmond: Judge Sotomayor is a highly intelligent (she graduated second in her class) and well-qualified justice. She just happens to be Latina and female.

When presidents have picked a white male justice, I don't recall any criticism that the justice was picked just because he was white and male.

Perry Bacon Jr.: I actually think Bush was criticized because he didn't pick a woman to replace O'Connor, but instead picked Roberts. I think you can say she is well-qualified and say the president wanted to pick a woman.

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Identity Politics: Perry, you are a successful black man, I am successful Hispanic man. I float freely in my upper-middle management Fortune 100 world. I've never used my ethnicity for anything and have rarely felt it used against me in anything more than inappropriate comments. That being said, when you live in an upper middle class/rich community and work at the top echelons of corporate world, you know sonmething is very clear: white men have all the power. Not just money and position, but polished prep schools, country club memberships, and collegiate and social associations with very powerful people. Like I said, I've done well for myself, but why isn't the media using this phony "reverse racism" hissy fit to show just how class and race conscious our highest levels of society are?

Perry Bacon Jr.: Lots in this comment. Let me just say i don't agree with your premise on power; Barack Obama is the president, Nancy Pelosi is the Speaker of the House, I could go on. I think the Sotomayor remark about her diverse experiences is an interesting one. In the debate about affirmative action, people often talk about the value of having minorities, poor poeple, etc. people who might have different life experiences than most Americans that might give them a different perspective on life. I would love to hear a debate on the merits of her comment, even if President Obama says she didn't meant to say it that way. . Would the Supreme Court look at cases differently if it had one or two people who had grown up poor or are Hispanic? I don't know, but it's an interesting question.

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Boston: I think this whole thing about being angry that a female Latina was picked instead of the "most qualified" is silly. Let's face it, there is no one "most qualified." There's probably 30 to 40 people equally qualified in different ways - of which Sotomayor was one. After that, how do you choose? I think its not unreasonable in the least to decide that diversity on the court is helpful. And I look forward to seeing Pat Buchanan on MSNBC many years from now when the court has 8 females justices and 1 male justice arguing that there is no need to pick a male to balance the court.

Perry Bacon Jr.: I think Boston makes a good point. I would say the number might 80 people even, but yes, I'm sure there are at least 10 people who are qualified for this post. After this, there are lot of considerations. When Bush picked John Roberts, it seemed to me that Roberts not only was conservative, but one with a great personality, good family, young and not a long paper trail. So he was qualiifed, but also had those things going for him. Sotomayor shares Obama's political views, but also has a great personal story, is a Hispanic woman, was originally picked by a Republican, etc.

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Montgomery Village, Md.: Perry

I read in one of these chats that Rush has about 13.5 million listeners per week. Assuming that many (most?)listen more than once each week, it seems that the number of different listeners could be 3-5 million max or about 1-2% of the US population . For this so many Republicans and Democrats have their knickers in a knot ? And so many other media folks hang on his deliberately controversial remarks?

Perry Bacon Jr.: This is a good point. Even if every one of Rush's 13 million is a unique person, John McCain almost 60 million votes last year. Rush's audience is an ethusiastic, but small group of the Republican Party. What's important to note is that his listeners are the kind of people who donate money, call congressional offices, vote in primaries, so they are important for the GOP. But he himself is not really a party leader and his comments are often more entertainment than policy.

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So-Called Liberal Media: Why is it that our "Liberal Media" allows conservatives determine every single storyline? The Supreme Court rarely deals with abortion or affirmative action -- but GOP fundraising groups care about this -- so that is all that gets covered. Why always go to a settled case from 36 years ago and not the hundreds of pro-business/anti-individual decisions the Supreme and Appellate courts have been making over the past couple of years?

Perry Bacon Jr.: I don't think the media itself defines abortion/affirmative action as important. The groups on the left also care about these issues. Imagine Obama becoming a Bob Casey-like (liberal but pro-life) person for the court, that would get lots of attacks. I do think we focus too much on these social issues at the expense of others, I think it's important to know the nominee's views on presidential power, the second amendment, etc.

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Northampton, Mass.: Hi Perry,

This isn't an original thought on my part, but boy, it sure is good that they made Janet Napolitano go and apologize for that report that was written during the Bush administration that warned of the danger of domestic terrorists focused on issues like abortion. It was slanderous to imply that there is anyone out there who might commit violent acts based on these issues. You might even get the impression that there was a political party out there exploiting such sensitive issues for votes! Thank goodness nothing like that is going on!

Perry Bacon Jr.: Couple of other people made this connection. The Department of Homeland Security put out a report earlier this year called "Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic And Political Climate Fueling Resurgence In Radicalization And Recruitment" that you can find online. I wouldn't connect the Republican Party to the kind of act that happened yesterday. But the Kansas slaying hits on the issues that the report brought up.

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hypocrisy on empathy?: Didn't Alito and Thomas make comparable remarks about how their backgrounds could impact how they viewed the cases that came their way? Where was/is the conservative outcry on their statements?

Perry Bacon Jr.: I'm pretty sure Thomas did. I would love to see people grapple with the core of question of what Sotomayor said and whether she is right, which seems more interesting to me than the political implications, which seem limited since she is almost certain to be confirmed.

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Fairfax, VA: Do the Democrats like and Republicans dislike Sotomayor just because she was nominated by President Obama? I hate party line voting. I wish that all of the members of congress could take a fair and open opinion of Sotomayor and vote based on that opinion and not just vote on their party's side.

Perry Bacon Jr.: Not sure what the difference is between party-line voting and "their opinion." Most people are in a party because the party represents their opinions. President Obama, while in the Senate, rather openly said he opposed Justice Roberts because he disagrees with Roberts political views. Seems to me if we put her political views up for a vote, most Democrats agree with those, most Republicans disagree with them. Some say you should just back a justice if they are qualified, and I think that would get her a much bigger number of supporters.

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Anonymous: Besides the fact that this court pick shows Obama to be much more of a political player than he ran as, wasn't it sort of dumb to pick such a moderate now when future possible picks may run up against a Congress that won't be so much in the President's favor ?

Perry Bacon Jr.: Not clear to me if she is a moderate or not. I just can't tell. If Obama wanted to pick a more openly liberal jurist, the Scalia of the left, I"m actaully not sure this is the best time. He's trying to use his political capital on health care and other issues. If he really wants to pick the liberal equlivalent of Scalia, which I'm not really sure is the goal, it might be smarter to wait till next year if an opening comes up or even latter, although then you get into the factor of how the Senate looks, as it is very Democratic right now.

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Northfield, IL.: Re the Sotomayor nomination, when ALL Presidents are asked if they have a litmus test on aborttion when selecting a nominee, do reporters really believe it when ALL Presidents throw up their hands and react in horror when saying "Of course not!!!"?

Perry Bacon Jr.: Yes, I"m not sure reporters get straight answers on that question, because "litmus tests" are bad words in the Supreme Court process. Of course the person Obama picked for the court is pro-choice (or he and his staff think they are pro-choice), I don't know if they asked her that in the interview or not, but it doesn't matter. This is a litmus test issue.

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Perry Bacon Jr.: I"m out of time. Thanks for your comments and questions.

Perry

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