This editorial will not appear in tomorrow's New York Times
By: Mark Tapscott
Editorial Page Editor
03/28/10 4:23 PM EDT
Don't pick up tomorrow's edition of The New York Times expecting to read an editorial like this concerning President Obama's 15 recess appointments, including that of Craig Becker, the radical labor lawyer and professor to the National Labor Relations Board:
<<< "It is disturbing that President Obama 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. Obama announced 15 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.
"This end run around Senate confirmation was built into the Constitution to allow the president to quickly fill vacancies that came up when lawmakers were out of town, to keep the government running smoothly in times when travelers and mail moved by horseback and Congress met part time.
"Modern presidents have employed this power to place nominees who ran into political trouble in the Senate. Presidents Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton made scores of recess appointments. But both of them faced a Congress controlled by the opposition party, while the Senate has been under Democratic control for Mr. Obama's entire first year in office." >>>
If, however, the above graphs sound somehow familiar, they should because those graphs originally appeared in the Times Jan. 9, 2006, after President Bush announced a series of recess appointments. Obviously, I've changed the Bush references to Obama above.
It would be refreshing to see the Times apply the same standard to Obama's recess appointments as it did to those by Bush.
It would also be refreshing to see consistency among Republicans who are now critical of Obama for making recess appointments. Obama's 2008 Republican presidential opponent, Sen. John McCain, was none too happy about the latest exercise in executive authority.
But as Huffington Post points out, McCain sang a different tune under Bush.
Or should we simply sigh and recall Mr. Emerson's maxim about consistency being "hobgobblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines."
HT: Glenn Reynolds at Instapundit, who must read more widely than any human being on the face of the earth.
Read more at the Washington Examiner: washingtonexaminer.com |
