Obama’s interim appointment
In a move that should hardly surprise anyone, Obama has circumvented the power of Republicans in Congress by appointing Richard Cordray as head of the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. It’s been clear for a long time that the fight has been escalating; Republicans are determined to wring concessions about the structure of the Bureau by blocking the appointment of anyone for that job, and Obama is just as determined to get around them by hook or by crook.
Jonathan Chait explains just how evil the Republicans are and why Obama is one smart and wonderful cookie to have done what he did. Investors Business Daily claims that Obama is acting more like a king than a president, and that “ruling” is what he had in mind all the time.
From Chait:
Fights between Congress and the president over presidential appointments have gone on for decades. But Senate Republicans have taken the fight to a new level by using the power to deny appointments to require changes in the laws. The Dodd”“Frank financial reform established the C.F.R.B., but Wall Street hates it, and Republicans openly vowed not to confirm any director unless Obama agreed to weaken the law.
This is an entirely new use of congressional power to block appointments. The normally mild-mannered James Fallows has called this “nullification,” and Republicans have begun using it to paralyze large swaths of the government. The normal presidential recourse against hardened opposition to an executive branch nominee is to make the appointment when Congress is out of session, but Republicans closed off that avenue as well, by holding pro forma sessions year-round. If it held up, this would give Congress enormous power over the president ”“ allowing it to unilaterally halt any agency it likes in return for any demand at all. They have likewise refused to confirm any directors at all to the National Labor Relations Board, denying the agency a quorum and essentially halting the enforcement of federal labor law.
So Obama tried the audacious and legally indeterminate move of simply declaring the pro-forma session a sham, insisting Congress really was on recess, and appointing his man.
From IBD:
A little more than three years after Jarrett declared Obama’s majesty, his spokesman Jay Carney warned on the day of the Iowa caucuses that “if Republicans choose the path of obstruction rather than cooperation, then the president is not going to sit here . .. he’s going to take the actions that he can take using his executive authority.”
Within a day, Obama made good on the threat. On Wednesday, he bypassed the congressional approval process and named Richard Cordray as head of the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The appointment, made while the Senate is in a pro forma session and not in recess, came after that chamber blocked Cordray’s confirmation last month.
Not only is Obama trampling precedent that says recess appointments are to be done only after the Senate has been out of session for 10 days or more, he’s also trying to circumvent legislation.
As noted by Mark Calabria of the Cato Institute, the Dodd-Frank bill that created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau requires the CFPB’s authority to remain with the Treasury secretary until the CFPB director is “confirmed by the Senate.” Cordray still lacks that confirmation.
In a case like this, I’m not sure what Congress can do to stop Obama. But the usual recourse in these fights between executive and legislative branches (and although the details may be different, this is hardly the first time) is the judiciary. And that’s where this may all end up:
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has not decided whether it will file a legal challenge to the appointments, according to David Hirschmann, who heads the Chamber’s Center for Capital Markets Competitiveness. But he said he’s confident that Obama’s precedent-shattering move will land the administration in court.
Those who don’t mind Obama’s re-election might reflect on how this sort of thing could play out in the four years of Obama II.
[ADDENDUM: Professor William Jacobson of Legal Insurrection has more to say on this.]
Chait’s being more than a bit disingenuous. Did he complain when the Democrats used the same non-recess tactics to stymie Bush?
As for the recent appointees, Congress has one interesting weapon: pass a bill forbidding the use of any federal money to pay the holders of these positions until they’ve been confirmed by the Senate. I doubt they’ll want to work for free.
I get a lot of abuse when I say the Constitution has been rendered a dead letter. Then another news cycle confirms my view.
A commenter elsewhere observed that the notion of recess appointments has been abused for generations. The constructionist version holds that appointments may be made only for offices *which become* vacant during a recess. Those which were vacant and go unfilled were to remain vacant. That’s a check against Executive over-reach.
I haven’t read up on that line of argument. It is however moot when the Executive decides he will not be bound by the rules of Congress or the text of the Constitution.
The appointment of stealth radicals is a key element of the Left. From library boards to the EPA this is how the elites govern. The true radical is not yesterdays statesman, but a ruthless advocate. If you haven’t been following the soap opera at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, a google search is worth while. Chairman Jaczko was Harry Reids man, who’s sole job was to sink the nuclear wast disposal site in Nevada. Pres. Bush appointed him in exchange for other appointments from Harry Reid. But Jaczko has little time for collegial action. The other four commissioners (two democrats and two republicans) have publicly accused Jaczko of harrassment and intimidation. The hearings before Rep. Issa’s committee are priceless video.
BUT, he got the job done of stopping Yucca Mountain so his lack of civility or professionalism is excused. President Obamas “recess” appointments need only do a few things in their hopefully short terms to earn their leftist stripes.
You gotta love the phrase “audacious and legally indeterminate.”
What stops this sort of thing? Nothing except “a nipponized bit of the old Sixth Avenue El.”
Which is why it will continue.
An elevated railway in Manhattan?
Tom: The scrap from dismantling that line in 1939 is alleged to have been sold to Japan’s war effort.
vanderleun reached a Dennis Miller level of obscurity with that reference. 🙂
I geddit, thanks fm.
Tom and foxmarks: Here’s the full reference.
Not obscure for us poetry-lovers.
But then again, poetry-lovers are pretty obscure to begin with.
So the Chamber of Commerce (Registered Trademark)(a division of Mega Corp and in no way affiliated with the people of the United States) doesn’t want any appointment – which they told their Senate paid drones not to ever look at – will go to court against to prevent what the law passed by the Legislature requires.
Thanks Neo. There are many things I find VERY poetic. Poetry isn’t one of them.
So now we have our very own “Il Duce,” I shoulda guessed it from the head tilt of our very own pantywaist wunnabe.
Wolla Dalbo @ 11:59 . . .
I remember when Obama first came out with that fascist poster/logo/head tilt. I couldn’t believe that so many people didn’t catch the fascist reference in the Obama advertising and logos.
I was amazed, and still am, that Obama telegraphed his intentions so clearly, and the media fools, who clearly have no education whatsoever, missed all the blatant Mussolini references.
WTF?????
It is not
economy
that matters,
when one loves.
If we have
you and me
and you know
who I am
And I know
who you are
that’s enough
for blessings.
I will be
since I will,
and I will
since I am!
Get the thing!
Beginning
sexual,
lacks the full.
Who will care
for children
and secure
the future?
Ding an sich
in itself
remedies
subjectivitity
Anyone remember my point at how the soviets referred tp the new state as a
Sovereign democracy (Russian: ÑÑƒÐ²ÐµÑ€ÐµÐ½Ð½Ð°Ñ Ð´ÐµÐ¼Ð¾ÐºÑ€Ð°Ñ‚Ð¸Ñ, suveryennaya demokratiya) is a term that with regard to Russian politics was first used by Vladislav Surkov on the 22nd of February 2006 in a speech before a gathering of the Russian political party United Russia[1]. According to Surkov, sovereign democracy is:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sovereign_democracy
Not keeping up with the stuff that others are doing and that our state copies is really foolish… not the least of the foolishness is to think that none of that exists, there is no lineage to it, and that the armchair musings in ignorance would conclude whats going on absent knowledge they don’t believe or are aware exists…
and since the new order has decided fascist communism to be the end:
Carl Schmitt (1888-1985) – the crown jurist of the Third Reich and the leading figure of the modern European anti-liberal tradition – is the other powerful intellectual presence that can be detected in the official philosophy of the new Russian sovereignists. His influence can be felt in many of the pages of the book but his “Nazi connection” made him unpublishable in a Kremlin-inspired book.
and
leading to:
Any of this seem familiar?
…directed democracy reflected the strange relations between the rulers and the ruled…
Stephen Holmes has acutely portrayed this relationship: “Those at the top neither exploit nor oppress those at the bottom. They do not even govern them; they simply ignore them.”
Think Obama ignores the people? wonder why? All you have to do is understand the literature that they read and apply like fashion fads for people who have few original ideas themselves! from Herbert Marcuse in the 60s to Friedan, to Fujiyama, to stuff like this…. if you know the lineage of thought and know what they are reading and are influenced by, then you have a good idea what is generating their ideas about things.
[edited for length by n-n]
Now do you think he will stop at just one?
of course not…
he can appoint and change things way before we can bring his actions up before a force that could limit him… ie, the lag between action and negation that leaves a open run for despotism if it can be done fast enough to negate the action that came later abusing the lag, or negate the action through stacking the deck with like minded people…
http://www.myfoxhouston.com/dpps/news/obama-cordray-as-consumer-agency-chief-dpgonc-20120104-fc_16801655
President Obama announced today his intent to recess appoint four individuals to fill key administration posts that have been left vacant,” the release said, noting that it would appoint Sharon Block, Terence F. Flynn and Richard Griffin to the NLRB.
The fourth recess appointment was to name Richard Cordray to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the controversial new consumer watchdog created by the Dodd-Frank financial reform legislation passed in 2010.
So its not one, but four appointees…
from financial times: “the president increasingly relies on executive orders rather than risk his proposals being voted down in Congress.”
You mean like sovereign decrees?
Mr Obama signed a new executive order on Monday requiring the Food and Drug Administration to address a shortage in prescription medicine, the fifth such order in a week.
so this order is way after a lot of others we didn’t pay attention to… or shall i said, i paid attention to, warned were coming, and watched them pass by…
FT continues:
High quality global journalism requires investment. Please share this article with others using the link below, do not cut & paste the article. See our Ts&Cs and Copyright Policy for more detail. Email ftsales.support@ft.com to buy additional rights. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/6a5a3f66-03d2-11e1-bbc5-00144feabdc0.html#ixzz1igkUBgth
with the executive orders, Mr Obama has signalled a new strategy to advance his agenda without Congress. It also marks the beginning of a public campaign, a year out from the presidential election, to show voters that he is taking concrete action to create jobs while Republicans are not.
“He needs people in Congress who are not going to obstruct job creation,” said Thomas Mann, a Congressional expert at the Brookings Institution think tank, adding that the president had little choice.
“So he has no alternative but to use executive orders. He should turn it into a virtue,” he said.
so, true to sociopathic narcissism, its not his fault that he has to do this, all the others are forcing him… right?
“Let’s re-emphasise what powers we have! What we can do on our own! Push the envelope!” – Bill Daley, Mr Obama’s chief of staff
this continues the constant line of thought that only one man with enough power like stalin can make the changes needed, and that such bodies or soviets like congress have no power to react fast enough to todays issues.
but as with feminism, drinking a gallon of water a day has different outcomes depending on whether its consumed in one minute or throughout the day. something benign and good can easily be made toxic that way.
Obama Announces Public New Measures to Bypass Congress and Use Dictator-like Decrees
http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/41802
At times like this i wonder what “Huxley the Reasonable” would say?
[edited for length by n-n]
Obama held rallies in outdoor stadiums to excite and inflame the people’s passions. Frequently women would faint or break into tears.
[who else did this?]
Obama wrote a ghost biography before office (Dreams Of My Father).
[who else did this?]
Then a second book was written detailing his goals (The Audacity of Hope).
[who else did this?]
Obama changed his name and hides much of his early identity and inconvenient relations…
[who else did this?]
Obama’s supporters follow him blindly, and without question, even making apologies and convenient explanations to help.
[who else did this?]
Obama has games around his credentials and birth certificate…
[who else did this?]
Obama created his Youth Brigade and funded it.
[who else did this?]
Obama is assumed to have great orator skills and the public was told this, and told what to think about this.
[who else did this?]
Obama had messianic comparations, and had songs of adulation and adoration written about him.
[who else did this?]
Obama considers himself the will of the people and that any opposition to his will is opposition to the people and has usurped powers and created constitutional exceptions of convenience
[who else did this?]
Obama has an obvious dislike for observant jewish people, and the jewish state
[who else was like this? (so far as it goes)]
Obama mesmerizes his followers, lies to their faces and is accepted as truthful
[who else?]
Obama’s earliest rise was accomplished by the help of domestic terrorists, like ayers, and others…
[who else?]
Obama is for eugenics (abortion) and euthanasia as a means of population control
[who else?]
Obama is following the ideas of Carl Schmitt, and Heidekker, and others…
[who else?]
Obama was man of the year as decided by time
[who else?]
Obama Nationalized auto industry
[who else?]
Obama nationalizes health, education, etc
[who else?]
Obama is keen on green, and other naturalist ideas of living
[who else?]
Obama is into the class struggle and deciding winners and losers in society by race, and other convenient measures
[who else?]
Obama broke the rule of law with the financial industry, declaring contracts entered into as inconsequential changing their outcomes
[who else?]
this list can actually go on and on…
however not all things match up
the differences that can be listed match another man of the year…
so a Hegelian hybrid appears…
I really do wonder what Huxley would say…
Old King Log…
Wow. Didn’t realize that incredible matchup with ole Schnicklegruber!
I suppose no one needs to hope for a catastrophe (not that anyone is or wants to) but if someone did, doesn’t the current administration qualify?
At what point do we, so frustrated and fed up with our useless Republican apparatus, break into “catastrophic” mode?
And we’re told, well, really, were “fear mongered” into relinquishing what is most ours as an American, our vote. It could not be clearer what “the people” want and that it is different than what the Republican establishment wants. And the Republican establishment wants that because it is only about retaining positions and power at any cost.
And so we have about one-third of those who call themselves Republicans tellling the other two thirds that they will destroy America by “throwing away their vote.”
And in the ongoing melee between the two groups, all sorts of mischief (fast and furious, interim appointment, and on and on and on) is accomplished.
Who, then, is the problem. The one-third or the two thirds?
nice of you to use his real name curtis!!!
most excellent i would say!!! 🙂