Obama calling Justice Thomas out on experience is really rich. Here’s just the Wikipedia blurb on Thomas’s solid and incredibly wide-ranging background before his nomination:
“From 1974 to 1977, Thomas was an Assistant Attorney General of Missouri under then State Attorney General John Danforth. When Danforth was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1976 to 1979, Thomas left to become an attorney with Monsanto in St. Louis, Missouri. He returned to work for Danforth from 1979 to 1981 as a Legislative Assistant. Both men shared a common bond in that both had studied to be ordained (although Thomas was Roman Catholic and Danforth was ordained Episcopalian). Danforth was to be instrumental in championing Thomas for the Supreme Court.
In 1981, he joined the Reagan administration. From 1981 to 1982, he served as Assistant Secretary of Education for the Office of Civil Rights in the U.S. Department of Education. From 1982 to 1990 he was Chairman of the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (”EEOC”).
In 1990, President George H. W. Bush appointed Thomas to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
On July 1, 1991 President George H.W. Bush nominated Thomas to replace Thurgood Marshall who had recently announced his retirement.[13]”
Perhaps adding to Obama’s animus is the fact that Thomas actually was raised with real African-language roots (as a ‘Gullah’) before shifting to English as his primary language.
This is a perfect example of a little mini-discussion going on upthread about OBama's answers and how he had to work at saying something while saying nothing.
Do you mean to tell me that of all the justices that Clarence Thomas was the ONLY one that OBama wouldn't have voted for? Yeah, right. Like Obama would have been crushing the gates to vote for Alito or Roberts.
Obama said Thomas for one reason only. Thomas is black and Obama wanted the world to know that while he-Obama-is black, he isn't "black" like Clarence Thomas is.
It was a perfect example of Obama pulling an answer out of the air that would say nothing. Hell he couldn't even name one thing Thomas did that so enraged him.
Not that he knews, his constitutional expert self.