Empathy...

Last week, after Justice Souter announced his retirement, Obama made some remarks that included this bit:

I will seek somebody with a sharp and independent mind and a record of excellence and integrity. I will seek someone who understands that justice isn't about some abstract legal theory or footnote in a case book. It is also about how our laws affect the daily realities of people's lives -- whether they can make a living and care for their families; whether they feel safe in their homes and welcome in their own nation. I view that quality of empathy, of understanding and identifying with people's hopes and struggles as an essential ingredient for arriving as just decisions and outcomes.

I've been stewing on this all week...it's the single most frightening thing I've heard Obama say yet (and that's saying something, as he's made some terrifying utterances). If you parse his words carefully, he's really saying this: he wants Supreme Court justices that ignore the law (including the Constitution), and instead make decisions based on their understanding of people's feelings (that's what “empathy” means).

Am I exaggerating, making too much of his rhetoric? I think not. I believe that he is saying here quite clearly what he wants – justices who won't think of themselves as bound by a musty old Constituition. He really does want justices willing to make decisions even that directly contradict the Constitution, so long as those decisions correspond to where Obama wants the country to go.

We've seen this scenario play out quite recently, and not so far from home. This is exactly what happened in Venezuela, where now the “socialist” (thugalist, really) Hugo Socialist has made the country over in his image.

How are we going to get our country back?