Obama rebuffs advice on Court

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Ruben Navarrette Jr.
Special to CNN

Things really have changed with the Obama presidency - starting with the process for nominating a Supreme Court justice.

When Republican President George W. Bush had the chance to put judges on the Supreme Court, Democrats freely offered opinions and even suggested lists of names of potential nominees they could live with. The media thought this was great, and urged Bush to heed the suggestions in the spirit of bipartisanship.

Now that Obama is president and controls the nominating process, things are different. This week, the White House put special interest groups on notice that this is the president's choice alone and they needn't bother putting forth their preferred candidates. The jab was clearly aimed at the left, where feminist groups are calling for the nomination of a woman, Latino groups want a Latino and the Congressional Black Caucus had the chutzpah to push one of its own members: Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Virginia.

About this, the media is generally supportive - of Obama. Most of the stories are about how these groups are "lobbying" for this candidate or that one, with a negative connotation. Where was this indignation when the left was "lobbying" Bush?

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