Why Harry Reid Abolished the Filibuster – and Why This Power-Grab Will Likely Backfire Against the Left

As we all know by now, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid undid nearly two centuries of American tradition by eliminating the filibuster in the Senate for Presidential appointment confirmations.

He exercised what has become known as “The Nuclear Option.”

The Senate filibuster first came into being in 1837.

The idea at the core of America’s federal governing structure is that the U.S. House of Representatives is driven more by popular will — often passions of the moment. But the Senate is supposed to be the world’s greatest deliberative body. It’s the chamber where legislation and other federal action slows down.

The Senate is not supposed to be another U.S. House of Representatives.

This is a principle that has served America well for two centuries by preventing much bad legislation.

Harry Reid, with Barack Obama’s support, undid all of that with 52 votes in the Senate.

Obama and Reid don’t care about American tradition or rules. They just do what they want to do.

I actually think Reid’s decision to eliminate the filibuster will end up being disastrous for Obama and ObamaCare.

It means that if Republicans retake the Senate and the Presidency between now and 2017 (which I believe is likely) we’ll be able to repeal ObamaCare by a one-vote majority in the Senate. We won’t need a 60-vote super-majority.

Yes, I know Reid only eliminated the filibuster for Presidential appointments.

But now he’s set the precedent. The filibuster rule is now over — for better or worse.

If you are in the minority party in the Senate, there’s no reason to show up for work anymore.

Democrats are very likely to find themselves in the minority in the Senate after the 2014 mid-term elections.

The question is: Why would Harry Reid and Barack Obama do this?

They can read polls. They can see what’s likely to happen in the 2014 and 2016 elections.

My prediction is Democrats will soon rue the day when they abolished the filibuster.

I believe the reason they did this is precisely because Obama and Reid can see the handwriting on the wall. They know they are staring in the face of disastrous election results in 2014 and 2016 when they will lose control of the Senate and the Presidency.

So what they want to do is quickly pack the federal courts (most immediately the Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington, DC) with as many radical left judges as possible. With the filibuster now gone, Obama can appoint three radical left judges to the DC Circuit of Appeals Court right away.

The DC Circuit Court of Appeals is the most powerful court in the land under the Supreme Court.

Obama and Reid want to make their leftist revolution in America permanent by packing the courts with radical judges who will legislate from the bench and override much of what a Republican Congress and President want to do. The kinds of judges Obama will appoint don’t care about the Constitution, don’t like the Constitution, and don’t even care about the rule of law.

Like Obama and Reid, these judges will just do whatever they want to do. They will try to render the coming Republican Congress and President irrelevant.

Obama might even get another Supreme Court appointment. He wants to make sure he’s free to appoint the most radical Supreme Court Justice possible, without worrying about overcoming any filibuster.

If Obama is able to replace just one of the five center-right Justices with a Saul Alinsky-style radical, the Left will have a majority on the Supreme Court. The Court will then simply declare whatever a Republican Congress or President try to do as unconstitutional.

That’s why Harry Reid abolished the filibuster for Obama’s court and other appointments. Obama and Reid are now looking to Courts (and their packing the courts with radical leftists) to complete Barack Obama’s 2008 promise to “fundamentally transform” America.

I don’t think this gambit by Obama and Reid will work.

Yes, they will be able to pack the DC Circuit Court of Appeals with radical leftists.  That’s certainly bad,

But they need one of the center-right Supreme Court Justices to retire to capture control of the Highest Court.

If all five center-right Justices hang on for three more years (which now seems likely), a Republican President will then be in a position to appoint and confirm true Constitutionalists to the Supreme Court by a single vote in the Senate.  We’ll be in a position to get more Justice Scalia’s and Thomas’s on the court and lock in a conservative Constitutionalist majority on the court for another generation or more.

So, in the end, I predict Harry Reid’s power-grab will backfire against Obama, Reid, and the Left.