Obama's AG

Many news outlets are saying this morning that Obama has picked former Clinton Justice Department #2 man Eric Holder as his choice for Attorney General, but there's one rather big blemish on his record:

Holder, 57, has a rich background within the criminal justice system as a former judge and top federal prosecutor in Washington. He is widely known within the city's legal community and for his philanthropic work on behalf of troubled juveniles detained at Washington's Oak Hill facility. If he is confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Holder will be the first African American attorney general.

For the past several years, Holder has defended private corporations as a partner at the law firm Covington and Burling. But he took on an active role in the Obama campaign as a friend and adviser to the senator from Illinois after meeting him at a Washington dinner party, and over the summer served on his vice presidential vetting team.

Holder has won praise from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, although his selection is likely to revive questions about his failure to act forcefully to prevent a last-minute pardon of fugitive Marc Rich, who won clemency from President Bill Clinton during his last days in office in early 2001.

The Republicans are already attacking Holder on this, and the wingnuts are gleefully pointing to this as proof that "Clinton's third term" is underway and that Holder is somehow worse than disgraced Bush AG Alberto Gonzales. I leave with you with part of a speech given by Holder in 2004, courtesy of Melissa McEwan at Shakesville:

At the beginning of the 21st century, this nation faces problems that are old and that are new: racial, sexual orientation, and gender inequality all remain. … The solutions are contained within a new, dynamic, progressive movement that has the ability to inspire and motivate the people of this nation in the way that progressives have in the past. That ability exists in this room, and in the law schools, and in the courtrooms, and in the law offices around this country. It is our task to unlock, to unleash the creative energy needed to give life to this renewed movement. It is not enough for us to gather at annual meetings, to participate in panels, and to return to our communities, and be content to observe, or to passively criticize, the now dominant governing philosophy.

Quite simply, it is time to act. It is time to organize. It is time to retake the levers of government and to use them for the common good. It is time, finally, to be true to our ideological heritage. And so my challenge to you tonight is to leave this convention renewed in your convictions, and committed to using your abundant talents for the good of the citizens of this country.

So...yeah. This is one of the guys who will help Obama put the country back together, I hope. I'm far less worried about Eric Holder and Marc Rich than I am his views on the Constitution, torture, executive power and the "plenary executive", the legality and scope of how much power the Warren Terrah grants President Obama, enforcement of civil rights and voting laws, and the politicization of the Justice Department.

Even more than SecState, Obama's appointment to AG is the most important appointment he can make after the "above the law" presidency of Bush, Ashcroft, Gonzo, John Yoo, and Mike Mukasey. It was the Bush legal team (illegal team?) that gave him the cover to do all the horrendous things that he did to America like torture, like suspension of habeas corpus, like wiretapping American citizens, and it was specifically Gonzales who turned Justice into the Cover Preznitman's Ass Department.

Only after Gonzo went too far and fired career US Attorneys based on political reasons was he forced to resign. Meanwhile, current Chief Ass-Coverer Mike Mukasey has done exactly nothing to clean up Justice.

I understand that "Better than Gonzo" is about the lowest bar in the history of Presidential cabinet appointments, but Eric Holder seems like somebody actually dedicated to Rule Of Law and not Rule By President. More than any other cabinet position, it's the AG that has the most work ahead of him, and it's good to see former Consitutional Law professor Barack Obama take this seriously.