With the retirement of David Souter, we'll hear all kinds of noises from the right about how Obama must choose a moderate (read: conservative) nominee or else there will be a filibuster. President Obama should head them off at the pass. Enough current Republican senators have stated, on the record, that a judicial filibuster is constitutional to prevent a filibuster from occurring. For example, Obama could point out that Sen. Hatch is an honorable man, who has taken an oath to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution, and that he wrote that judicial filibusters are unconstitutional. Ditto for Sen. McConnell.
Just imagine if Democrats actually had message discipline, and they all consistently said, every time anyone mentioned "filibuster", that it can't happen, and saying that it will happen is insulting to their Republican colleagues. They could just play all innocent, and say "Are you accusing the Republicans of hypocrisy here? Because I certainly am not! We're going to have up-or-down votes, just they way they like it."