I'm not a Republican, but I'm also not a Democrat. I'm an Independent, and I don't vote on party lines.
I have to say that I find the idea of President Obama appointing someone he would otherwise not appoint in order to appease the Republicans who have fought him tooth-and-nail on every possible issue either through direct confrontation or inaction is a laughable one at best.
President Obama is often painted as a "polarizer," but is he alone? The answer, if you look at everything that has taken place over his two terms to date is rather simple: No.
Republicans and Democrats are both responsible for the political polarization of the nation, and it's not like this hasn't been going on, building to its inexorable climax, since long before the United States of America became a country.
It's simply never been this bad before.
Republicans refuse to come to the table. In this instance, they refused to come to the table before there even WAS a table, McConnell's comments coming less than 24 hours after Justice Scalia was discovered dead.
Republican intransigence was locked and loaded, as it has been for the entirety of this Administration, before there was even a reason to pull the gun out of the holster.
So no, President Obama is not the only "polarizer."
And we deserve an appointment to be put to the Senate and the Senate to do its Constitutional duty to advise and confirm or deny (and yes, it IS a duty, because it's part of their job), because despite what Mitch McConnell has said, the people did indeed speak about who should nominate a Supreme Court Justice and that answer was, until he is no longer President, President Obama.
The real unfortunate side of this is that we will not, as I've mentioned elsewhere, get a new Justice that we are supposed to get - one who will rule objectively and impartially, with only the Constitution in mind - no matter who nominates them.