There's no word yet on whether President Bush has chosen one of his renowned nicknames for his nominee to succeed former Attorney General Alberto R. "Fredo" Gonzales. Good thing.
One key strength of retired New York federal judge Michael B. Mukasey would be that he's from outside the Bush administration's inner circle of yes-men with pet presidential names.
After being nominated yesterday, Mukasey quickly took on the appearance of someone who could be confirmed by the Senate. He garnered bipartisan praise for his tough-minded attention to the rule of law and for his 19 years on the federal bench.
Among the cases he handled was the high-profile terrorism trial of the so-called Blind Sheik - Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman - whom Mukasey sent away for life for the mid-1990s plot to destroy New York City landmarks.
Given that resume, it's no surprise Bush introduced Mukasey as a man "clear-eyed about the threat our nation faces." That's essential. But Americans need something more, something missing from Gonzales' embarrassing tenure. The attorney general isn't just an eternally saluting foot soldier in Bush's "war on terror." In this job, being clear-eyed means figuring out how to keep Americans safe while also defending the civil liberties guaranteed by the Constitution.
While clearly a legal conservative, the 66-year-old Mukasey already has stood up to Bush overreaching: In 2003, Mukasey insisted that, even though suspects designated "enemy combatants" could be held indefinitely, they had the right to consult an attorney. This ruling about now-convicted terrorist-wannabe Jose Padilla paved the way for a pivotal U.S. Supreme Court decision that affirmed core American values on detainees.
That would make one more instance of standing up to Bush than Gonzales ever had (unless there was an occasion that the forgetful, departing attorney general can no longer recall).
More will be learned about Mukasey's record during Senate hearings. But Bush clearly has done something he doesn't always do: face reality, adjust course and make a decent pick for a key job.