Another obstacle is a lack of enthusiasm for Judge Garland among the Democratic Party's progressive base.
According to them, Obama must pay for abandoning his "progressive base".
"The progressive base of the party passionately supports it, but among more mainstream Democrats they are not wild about this".
Perhaps it is the Obama administration's indifference to its progressive base that proved so costly in Tuesday's elections.
So I welcome Sanders' victory in New Hampshire as a sign that the Democratic party cannot ignore its progressive base any longer.
Obama's tacit promise to the Democratic party's progressive base was that he would be the transformational president Clinton wasn't, rather than the accommodating president Clinton actually was.
"There's been a lot of talk about how the progressive base is demobilized," said Robert Creamer, a longtime organizer for progressive causes.
"Not only do I believe this will inspire the progressive base, the same way that Tunisia inspired Egypt, but President Obama has framed up the issues perfectly".
But their party is going through its own convulsions: the rise of Bernie Sanders's electrified progressive base further highlights the dissatisfaction with the status quo that's spread across the nation under President Obama.
After the progressive base nominates her, the general electorate will have some practical questions, such as: why will a swarm of small banks be less likely to crash the economy than a few large ones?
In one way, Sanders had his strongest debate yet by managing to distinguish himself on an issue important to his progressive base; it's just absurd that it's taken him this long to do so.
