the gladsome glendon nomination

Off the Record ^ | November 7, 2007 | Diogenes

[NYer]

Now this is going to be interesting. Bush announced he'll pick Mary Ann Glendon as his rep to the Holy See. The Globe/AP story reporting the nomination wastes no time making sure she's properly tagged:

President Bush plans to nominate Harvard University law professor Mary Ann Glendon to be his new US ambassador to the Vatican. Glendon, 69, is an antiabortion scholar and an opponent of gay marriage who has written about the effects of divorce and increased litigation on society. Her 1987 book, "Abortion and Divorce in Western Law," was critical of the Supreme Court's 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that established a legal right to abortion.

An "anti-abortion scholar." Got the picture, you Boston Globe subscribers? Re-read it again slowly until you're convinced she's a threat to human liberty at home and abroad. Right then. Note also that she's an opponent of gay marriage. In the article's last sentence but one we're told, offhandedly, that Glendon "teaches in the areas of" human rights, comparative law, constitutional law, and legal theory -- but who cares about her hobbies? Let's keep focused on her qualifications for the job.

In more than one way I'm pleased that Glendon has been spray-painted by the Globe right from the get-go. Her nomination is subject to confirmation by the Senate, and that means Hillary and Obama will have to give her a thumbs-up or thumbs-down or find a plausible reason to abstain, while Edwards can maneuver himself into the gaps they leave for him. The Dems might have hoped to play it drowsy and treat Glendon benignly as a successful working mom mildly handicapped by a congenital Catholicism, but that easy exit has been sealed off. I hope her nomination is an issue raised early and often at media events.

The pundits tell us the Dem presidential nominee needs to win a substantial chunk of the Catholic vote (say, 45% or so) to get elected, and Hillary has been trying to blur her red-in-tooth-and-claw pro-abortion convictions so as to appeal to the mushy middle. It'll be hard for her to vote against Glendon on "equity feminist" grounds (being nine years older, Glendon was even more of an outsider than Hillary in the law school world and had a steeper climb to get where she is, and her credentials are considerably more weighty than the former First Lady's). Yet if Hillary picks up the red banner in the culture wars and attempts to criticize Glendon on abortion or gay marriage from the Senate floor, she'll wreck a lot of the pro-family camouflage she's been carefully arranging around herself.

On the other hand, should Hillary keep mum and abstain, Obama (and, from the left field bleachers, Edwards) have an opportunity to position themselves as more solidly pro-abort and pro-sod than the front-runner, thus scoring points with the Democrat core groups they need behind them to win the primary battles. As Mark Steyn explained some time ago, male Dems have to exaggerate their lean to the Left to prove their feticidal bona fides:

No male Democrat could get away with Hillary's tentative moves away from Dem orthodoxy on abortion: Kerry was reduced to claiming that, while he personally believed life begins at conception, he would never let his deep personal beliefs interfere with his legislative program; Dean was practically offering to perform partial-birth abortions on volunteers from the crowd. But, if a woman runs as kinda-sorta-pro-life-ish, I'll bet the NOW types decline to protest.

So how does Hillary handle the nominee the Globe has already labeled as every Klansman's favorite Klansperson? Does she beat her up and vote against her so as to keep the NARAL and NAMBLA crowd cheering, or does she take a dive and vote to confirm, murmuring some innocuous family-friendly clichés she can cash in with the squishier bishops come next summer? Whichever course she takes will provoke gnashing of teeth at MoveOn.org and wringing of hands at the NCR.

Nice pick.

[NYer]

In this undated photo provided by Harvard Law School, Harvard Law School professor Mary Ann Glendon poses for a portrait. President Bush announced Monday, Nov. 5, 2007, he wants Glendon to be his new U.S. ambassador to the Vatican. (AP Photo/Harvard Law School)

[NYer]

Here is the Boston Globe article.

Views mixed on Bush pick for envoy to Vatican

[NYer]

And from our friend, Rocco Palmo's blog.

---

Madam Ambassador

It's been speculated for weeks, but became official late last night: Mary-Ann Glendon, the Harvard Law prof who's long served the Holy See, first as head of its delegation to the UN's 1995 Conference on Women in Beijing, then into the present as president of the Pontifical Academy for Social Sciences, will be nominated as the US Ambassador to the Vatican.

In March 2004 Pope John Paul II named her president of the academy, marking the first time a woman has been named president of one of the major pontifical academies.

The social sciences academy focuses on issues related to the social sciences, economics, politics and law. Although autonomous, the academy works in consultation with the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace.

Glendon, 69, was the first woman named to head a Vatican delegation to a major U.N. conference; in 1995, Pope John Paul named her head of the Vatican delegation to the U.N. Conference on Women in Beijing.

Glendon's research has focused on bioethics, human rights, the theory of law and comparative constitutional law.

Since 2001, she also has served on the President's Council on Bioethics, which advises the U.S. president.

In addition to teaching at Harvard, she has been a visiting professor at Jesuit-run Gregorian University and the Legionaries of Christ's Regina Apostolorum Athenaeum, both in Rome.

A native of Berkshire County, Mass., she lives with her husband, Edward R. Lev, in Chestnut Hill, Mass. They have three daughters.

Once described as "God's Lawyer" by the Boston Globe, upon confirmation by the Senate, Glendon will be the eighth American representative to the Pope since the establishment of HS-US diplomatic relations in 1984.

However, only one other woman has gotten to call Villa Richardson -- the Vatican ambassador's residence -- a perk of her job: Lindy Boggs, the former Louisiana congresswoman, mother of Cokie Roberts and "first citizen of New Orleans," who held the post during Bill Clinton's second term.


PHOTO: Tanit Sanakini/Boston Globe

-30-

[Non-Sequitur]

Supporters said Glendon would bring a measured sensibility to a politically sensitive position, but opponents criticized her as a social conservative in lockstep with the Vatican's opposition to contraception and gay marriage.

Well of course what you would want in a role at the Vatican is someone who is pro-abortion and pro-gay marriage. </sarcasm>

This looks like a round peg in a round hole, something that is a little unusual in administration appointments. She should do fine.

[madprof98]

I love Mary Ann Glendon. I remember how thrilled I was to discover her book on abortion and divorce. But I doubt that more than a handful of American Catholics would notice or care if the Senate rejected her because she is serious about the teachings of the Church.

[magisterium]

She’s sort of a “semi-trad,” too. She would show up from time to time at the indult TLM here in Boston. I wouldn’t call her a die-hard traddie, but she seems to have a certain affection for the TLM.

[Mrs. Don-o]

I would ride shotgun for her. Truly a worthy woman, good (real good) and smart (real smart.)

[Nihil Obstat]

A native of Berkshire County, Mass., she lives with her husband, Edward R. Lev, in Chestnut Hill, Mass. They have three daughters.

Is the fantastic art historian/writer Liz Lev a relation?

[Mrs. Don-o]

I dunno. Glendon says she was a “mother of three young daughters” in the 1970’s. Does that put Liz Lev in the right age range?

[jeffil]

Liv is indeed Ms. Glendon’s daughter. She’s my best friend. :)

[Mrs. Don-o]

Really! O fortunate one!~