It's not his job to consider the interests of the country. His only job is to enforce the Constitution. Unfortunately, he got it wrong.
I think he didn’t do so, because of the fact that he was in fact bowing to political pressure, and for perhaps this and other reasons, he neglected to do the courageous thing. I don’t however buy into the fact that he did this happily or gleefully - despite the fact that sitting here today I do wish Bush had found a nominee more like Scalia.