Mainstream media is going nuts over the election of Scott Brown over Martha Coakley and what that means for health care reform and Obama’s agenda and blah blah blah. While I’ll agree that this probably doesn’t bode well for having Congress accomplish anything important in the foreseeable future, they seem to be missing the point:
Why has “government” become an arena for our two political parties to posture and preen and strut and vie for power instead of a place where, y’know, actual governing takes place.
*ahem* They seem to be missing the point as well as contributing to the problem.
Read this: 177 out of 631 political appointments still unconfirmed
(for comparison, Bush II had 70 unconfirmed appointees after 1 year)
Ugh, the fact that political parties(y) and special interests are playing games with our government sickens me.
What kind of games? I’ve already showed you that the filibuster game has experienced a dramatic increase in popularity lately, so let’s look at another game. A game called “let’s not appoint government officials and then blame government for not working”
It might have been useful, perhaps to have a someone in charge of the TSA in the aftermath of the Christmas terrorist attempt. Having someone in a position like that might have even helped to say, thwart the attack. (Ok, probably not, but let me stand on my soapbox here.) What? You say that there is a position like that? And that someone highly qualified has been appointed? And that a vote on his nomination has been put off for 4 months?!?! (Southers has since withdrawn his nomination)
You would figure that in this terrible economy it might be important to have a full complement of assistant secretaries at the Treasury Department. Clearly, not everyone thinks that, since 4 out of 10 are still awaiting confirmation. (Though, to be fair, Obama, what took you so long to nominate them?)
You might also think that maintaining strong diplomatic relationships with Brazil, only the largest economy in South America, the 8th largest country in the world, and one of the the four fast-growing BRIC countries, would be well-advised. Unless, of course, you were an American Congressman and decided to ice the nominee for over seven months.
I’ll be upfront and say that I can’t comment on the quality of the nominees. There could very well be a legitimate concerns (I’m looking at you, Harriet Myers.) However, don’t pull crap like this and expect me to give you the benefit of the doubt in the future.
The most absurd hold of 2009, perhaps, was on Miriam Sapiro, whom the Obama administration appointed to become a U.S. trade representative. Sen. Jim Bunning, a Republican from Kentucky, held up the respected Internet policy specialist’s nomination over — really — candy-flavored cigarettes. Big Tobacco, with Bunning on its side, wanted the Obama administration to lobby against Canada’s banning of flavored cigarettes like cloves, which are particularly popular among underage smokers. According to the New York Times, Bunning lifted the hold only when Democrats agreed to put a Republican, Michael Khouri, on the Federal Maritime Commission. (In the end, Bunning didn’t even attend the vote that confirmed Sapiro.)
Ok. I’ll step off the soapbox now.
Partial list of held appointments below the cut.
The full list @ whitehouse.gov
This post brought to you by Foreign Policy Ezra Klein and Matt Yglesias
Below, a sample of those relevant to U.S. security and foreign policy.
David Adelman, ambassador to Singapore
Brooke Anderson, ambassador-rank representative to the United Nations
Mari Carmen Aponte, ambassador to El Salvador
George Apostolakis, commissioner of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Alan Douglas Bersin, commissioner of U.S. customs at the Department of Homeland Security
Sandford Blitz, federal co-chair of the Northern Border Regional Commission
Donald E. Booth, ambassador to Ethiopia
Rafael Borras, undersecretary for management at the Department of Homeland Security
Charles Collyns, assistant secretary for international finance at the Treasury Department
Erin Conaton, undersecretary of the Air Force
Donald Lloyd Cook, deputy administrator for defense programs at the Department of Energy
Philip Coyle, associate director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy
Scott DeLisi, ambassador to Nepal
Eileen Donahoe, representative to the U.N. Human Rights Council
Philip Goldberg, assistant secretary for the Bureau of Intelligence and Research at the State Department
Elizabeth Harman, assistant administrator for grants programs at FEMA
Eric Hirschhorn, undersecretary of commerce for export administration at the Department of Commerce
Michael Huerta, deputy administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration
Dawn Johnsen, assistant attorney general at the Office of Legal Counsel
Walter Jones, U.S. executive director of the African Development Bank
Allan Katz, ambassador to Portugal
Ian Kelly, U.S. representative to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe
Frank Kendall, principal deputy undersecretary of defense for acquisition and technology
Laura Kennedy, U.S. representative to the Conference on Disarmament
Betty Eileen King, U.S. permanent representative at the United Nations in Geneva
Suresh Kumar, assistant secretary of commerce and director general of the U.S. and Foreign Commercial Service
Marisa Lago, assistant secretary of the Treasury for international markets and development
Nicole Lamb-Hale, assistant secretary for manufacturing and services at the International Trade Administration
Elizabeth Littlefield, president of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation
William Magwood, commissioner of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Warren Fletcher Miller Jr., director of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management
Mary John Miller, assistant secretary of the Treasury for financial markets
David Warden Mills, assistant secretary of Commerce for export enforcement
Malcom Ross O’Neill, assistant secretary of the Army for acquisition, technology, and logistics
Paul Luis Oostburg Sanz, general counsel of the Navy
Jackalyne Pfannenstiel, assistant secretary of the Navy for installations and environment
Michael Ward Punke, U.S. deputy trade representative to Geneva
Douglas Alan Rediker, U.S. alternate executive director for the International Monetary Fund
Jessie Hill Roberson, member of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board
Mark Rosekind, member of the National Transportation Safety Board
Juan Francisco Sanchez, undersecretary for international trade at the Department of Commerce
Islam Ahmaed Siddiqui, chief agricultural negotiator of the Office of the United States Trade Representative
Ian Hoddy Solomon, U.S. executive director for the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development at the World Bank
Erroll Gregory Southers, assistant secretary of homeland security and administrator of the Transportation Security Administration
Clifford Lee Stanley, undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness
Judith Ann Stock, assistant secretary of state for educational and cultural affairs
Harry Thomas, ambassador to the Republic of the Philippines
Benjamin Burgess Tucker, deputy director at the Office for National Drug Control Policy
Caryn Anne Wagner, undersecretary of Homeland Security for intelligence and analysis
Solomon Brown Watson IV, general counsel of the Army
Beatrice Wilkinson Welters, ambassador to Trinidad and Tobago
Bisa Williams, ambassador to the Republic of Niger
Tags: politics