The Arrogance of the Emperor in Chief
The Resident has gotten quite adept at one thing: recess appointments. Rather than dealing with the messiness of Congress, who shamefully insist on having a complete book of information on each of his nominees, Mr. Bush simply bypasses the Congress (which his party controls)in order to indulge in more cronyism. He has, after all, the power to do so. Even the NY Times finds this distasteful.
It is disturbing that President Bush has exhibited a grandiose vision of executive power that leaves little room for public debate, the concerns of the minority party or the supervisory powers of the courts. But it is just plain baffling to watch him take the same regal attitude toward a Congress in which his party holds solid majorities in both houses.
Seizing the opportunity presented by the Congressional holiday break, Mr. Bush announced 17 recess appointments - a constitutional gimmick that allows a president to appoint someone when Congress is in recess to a job that normally requires Senate approval. The appointee serves until the next round of Congressional elections.
...In some cases, Mr. Bush has used the recess appointment power to rescue egregiously bad selections that would never pass muster on grounds of experience and competence. (Remember last year's recess appointment of the undiplomatic and Congressionally unacceptable John Bolton as ambassador to the United Nations.) In other cases, he has merely sought to avoid logjams that the White House created for itself by refusing to accommodate reasonable Democratic requests for information, documents and consultation.
Among those Mr. Bush unilaterally elevated to important posts this time around was Julie Myers, a government lawyer with ultrathin credentials whom Mr. Bush appointed to head the 15,000-person Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, the government's second largest investigative force.
Also on the list was Ellen Sauerbrey, the unqualified political crony Mr. Bush chose to head the billion-dollar-a-year State Department office that helps coordinate emergency relief efforts for refugees abroad, and whose nomination had stalled for just cause in the Foreign Relations Committee.
Mr. Bush also bypassed Senate hearings on a new deputy defense secretary and for three of the six seats on the Federal Election Commission. The election commission appointees include Hans von Spakovsky, a Justice Department lawyer who overrode the objection of career lawyers to gain approval of a Georgia voter identification plan almost certain to harm black voters.
The White House regularly accuses Senate Democrats of unfairly blocking the president's nominees, and it is true that one determined senator can freeze an appointment. But Mr. Bush's record in this area owes less to unreasonable Democrats than to the low caliber of some of his choices, his disinterest in bipartisan consensus and his aversion to any form of accountability, whether to the Senate, the courts or the public. [Emphasis added]
While these latest appointments can only serve until the new Congress is sworn in next January, a lot can happen in just one year. In the last twelve months this country has endured Hurricane Katrina ("You're doing a heckuva job, Brownie!") and a mining disaster. An argument can easily be made that if actually competent people were involved in both disasters, there would have been fewer deaths and injuries. Apparently that doesn't matter to his Imperial Highness.
Surely even the most hidebound conservative Senator must be getting tired of the White House hubris which completely ignores the role of the Senate as set forth by the Constitution. Perhaps now would be the time to for them to take stock of the situation and freakin' do something about it.
After all, November is just around the corner.
It is disturbing that President Bush has exhibited a grandiose vision of executive power that leaves little room for public debate, the concerns of the minority party or the supervisory powers of the courts. But it is just plain baffling to watch him take the same regal attitude toward a Congress in which his party holds solid majorities in both houses.
Seizing the opportunity presented by the Congressional holiday break, Mr. Bush announced 17 recess appointments - a constitutional gimmick that allows a president to appoint someone when Congress is in recess to a job that normally requires Senate approval. The appointee serves until the next round of Congressional elections.
...In some cases, Mr. Bush has used the recess appointment power to rescue egregiously bad selections that would never pass muster on grounds of experience and competence. (Remember last year's recess appointment of the undiplomatic and Congressionally unacceptable John Bolton as ambassador to the United Nations.) In other cases, he has merely sought to avoid logjams that the White House created for itself by refusing to accommodate reasonable Democratic requests for information, documents and consultation.
Among those Mr. Bush unilaterally elevated to important posts this time around was Julie Myers, a government lawyer with ultrathin credentials whom Mr. Bush appointed to head the 15,000-person Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, the government's second largest investigative force.
Also on the list was Ellen Sauerbrey, the unqualified political crony Mr. Bush chose to head the billion-dollar-a-year State Department office that helps coordinate emergency relief efforts for refugees abroad, and whose nomination had stalled for just cause in the Foreign Relations Committee.
Mr. Bush also bypassed Senate hearings on a new deputy defense secretary and for three of the six seats on the Federal Election Commission. The election commission appointees include Hans von Spakovsky, a Justice Department lawyer who overrode the objection of career lawyers to gain approval of a Georgia voter identification plan almost certain to harm black voters.
The White House regularly accuses Senate Democrats of unfairly blocking the president's nominees, and it is true that one determined senator can freeze an appointment. But Mr. Bush's record in this area owes less to unreasonable Democrats than to the low caliber of some of his choices, his disinterest in bipartisan consensus and his aversion to any form of accountability, whether to the Senate, the courts or the public. [Emphasis added]
While these latest appointments can only serve until the new Congress is sworn in next January, a lot can happen in just one year. In the last twelve months this country has endured Hurricane Katrina ("You're doing a heckuva job, Brownie!") and a mining disaster. An argument can easily be made that if actually competent people were involved in both disasters, there would have been fewer deaths and injuries. Apparently that doesn't matter to his Imperial Highness.
Surely even the most hidebound conservative Senator must be getting tired of the White House hubris which completely ignores the role of the Senate as set forth by the Constitution. Perhaps now would be the time to for them to take stock of the situation and freakin' do something about it.
After all, November is just around the corner.
posted by Diane at 5:14 AM
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