The Supremes

For those of you who don't know, I am a self-professed WINGNUT.

A WINGNUT is defined as an enthusiast for the former NBC show, and my favorite of all time, The West Wing.

To summarize the show for those who don't watch, it is the perfect window into the behind the scenes operations of a liberal white house, with a liberal arts educated, new england economics professor, turned 3-time New Hampshire Congressman, and 2-term Governor before he became President. Season 7, its final season, mirrors Obama's rise to the presidency almost to the letter. (You can see why its right up my alley right?)

I am also a MOONBAT. A moonbat is the leftist social epithet that is the opposite of an actual WINGNUT, but for the sake of this posting, the term fits. But I digress...

For a long time liberals have had to tamp down their fights and take the lesser of two evils and continue to press forward knowing that politics is a 15-round heavyweight boxing match. (For the sake of understanding behind the scenes influences, I think its also important to know that Obama has a picture of Muhammad Ali hanging on one of the walls in his private study off off the Oval Office.)

With the extreme partisanship of last summer's town hall meetings, and the racially charged vitriol from the right, the knock down & dragged out fight of the health care debate was a difficult one. One where liberals had to swallow single payer AND not having a public option to get some reform passed. The Obama administration and all liberals out there need to understand that with the retirement of Justice Stevens, our moment to make a definitive pick that will bring the balance of this nation back on the side of the middle class, so that everyday Americans can have their "fair" shake at defining their own destiny, and so that ur children will grow up in a country that because of our collective decisions will be better than the one given to us by our parents; that moment is upon us.

We have entrusted the safety of our nation, its people, and the sanctity of our constitution to this President, with the charge of being our coxswain as we citizens work to pull this country forward. Now is not the time to cower in fear of being called names. Now is not the time to take what we can get and call it a victory because the fight will be behind us. If you're going to get in a fight anyway, you might as well go down swinging as hard as you can.

Justice Stevens was seen as a moderate conservative judge when he was appointed, and look at how his status has changed over time. As the nation has moved further to the right, he is now the liberal stalwart on the bench. The time to choose someone who embodies the ideals and progressive thinking that this nation surely deserves for our highest court is, for me, a top priority in the next nominee.

Let's hope that the administration understands that this nomination battle, for liberal and progressive minded citizens, is not only the fight that we must have in order to restore balance in this country for generations to come, but also the one galvanizing force for the Democratic base, and progressive independents to get them out to the polls for the midterm elections.

Its a potential win-win for my side of the aisle. No more waiting to see the spine of steel on President Obama. I am probably one of the biggest Obama supporters out there. Yet, friends are the people you can count on to give you the encouragement and motivation you need to get the job done well. Now let's go out there and nominate the next Justice of the Supreme Court, and make it a choice that we can tell our children that we were there when they were nominated as they make great judicial decisions in the future, rather than being disgraced when their names are mentioned.

Yes, I'm talking about you Clarence Thomas.

Yes, we can!