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Respected for achievements, but her temperament, her openness to a broad array of viewpoints. her habit to borrow a phrase from justice stevens, of understanding before disagreeing, her fair-mindedness and skill as a consensus builder. >> paul: that was president obama this week touting his pick for the supreme court, solicitor general, elena kagan as an independent thinker and consensus builder. we're back with dan henninger and james, editorial member dorothy rabonwits joins the panel. >> i think a good choice and say quickly and get it out of the way, that this business about barring the mi...

Will be interesting to listen to and in a way that will kind of make it hard for them to try to pull her out. that said, one of the most interesting things about elena kagan, when she was in the clinton white house as deputy counsel, apparently one of the most hyper political individuals inside that white house and the old saw, the justices follow the election returns, i think elena kagan will watch politics when she's making her decisions. >> paul: briefly, jane what, about the issue the president kept stressing, consensus builder. is sounds leike he thinks she can pull kennedy over to a libe...

Roberts is not just an example of the vague kind of situation in which elena kagan would need to be persuasive as a supreme court justice, that was the actual guy she would be trying to persuade every day for the rest of her life in this job. the funny thing is, chief justice roberts didn't sound all that persuaded in that back and forth. to the extent the court matters in terms of what american policy is, the leaders on the court matter in terms of defining what american policy is. it's not just the chief justice, it's the center of gravity on the court. who affects it, who is getting their w...

Folks on capitol hill get to feel her out and see where she stands on a few things, just a sort of get to know you conversation. that being said, both sides of the aisle are trying to brandish her and trying to define her right now. the gop says she's very short on experience. does not have a lot in her background that they can figure out what it is she is going to be like on the supreme court. democrats are using words such as bridge-builder. consensus-builder. someone that can reach out across the aisle and make decisions happen on the supreme court. they point to her time 0 at harvard law, ...

Elena is respected for her not only her intellect and achievements, but also her temperament, her openness to a broad array of viewpoints. her habit, to borrow a phrase from justice stevens, of understanding before disagreeing. her fair-mindedness and skill as a consensus builder. >> if you ask her supporters her greatest assets, it's her unique ability to both listen to and appeal to conservatives even though she is not considered herself to be a conservative. according to the prevailing common wisdom, elena kagan is the kind of nominee who will be able to build unexpected coalitions through ...