Washington Monthly undercuts its own ‘Vote Obama, Vote SCOTUS’ article

And ignores evidence that undercuts the story even further

Stephanie Mencimer directly says, especially when viewed through the lens of business law, Obama will point Stephen Breyer-type Supreme Court justices.

In other words, on economic issues, he’s a Bill Clinton neolib, campaign rhetoric aside.

And, Obama’s legal mentor, Cass Sunstein, is centrist more than liberal. Remember, both were at the University of Chicago, whose economics program has been ground zero for much of the economic thinking that got us into the current mess in the first place.

Some difference.

On other legal issues, one of course should also note these several points:

First, contradicting her claim about a strong difference on church-state issues, Obama is already on record as supporting the expansion of many parts of Bush’s faith-based initiatives program.

Second, on presidential power and power grabs:
• Obama is a "FISA 45 percenter" (the percent of Dems who voted Yes on the FISA bill);
• Obama hasn't exactly been Russ Feingold on decrying presidential signing statements.

All of this says that Obama’s vaunted “constitutional law scholar” credibility, under closer examination, isn’t really what it would seem to be at first glance.