UPDATE: Big story on Good Morning America to start the AM, on how the Treasury Department has only one of eighteen positions requiring Senate confirmation in place. Yes, that one would would the Secretary.
Atypical for this point in an Administration? Not particularly. Bad news given everything on the Administration's plate - especially at Treasury? You bet.
Original post: 7:59 pm 2/25
Remember this post about troubling vacancies in the Obama Administration?
CNN just ran a story - no link available - on the topic, noting there are approximately 500 Executive Branch positions requiring Senate confirmation, yet only a handful have been filled. Examples of the impact: seven Assistant Secretary positions at HUD stand vacant (not to mention a certain nominee for Deputy Secretary we know) and thirteen of fourteen Senate confirmation-required posts at EPA unfilled.
All those statistics don't even touch on the thousands of Schedule C political appointments (not requiring Senate confirmation) lacking warm bodies in seats right now too. In sum, the Obama Administration has a glaring gap in its senior leadership. Yes, it has a White House staff and Cabinet Secretaries. Below that, however, there is a huge void between the Cabinet level and career employees. Think of a large corporation minus everyone at the level of VP or Director. You have workers and you have senior executives, but virtually no middle management to facilitate translating the wishes of those executives into reality.
Sure, filling such jobs after winning an election is regularly a problem that confronts every Administration. Yet, when an Administration is trying to move forward rapidly with a very aggressive agenda, the dilemma becomes more than a minor annoyance.
Posted by Eric Earling at February 27, 2009 07:42 AM | Email ThisWould it be so bad if the country had to live a whole year with nothing but the same laws and regulations that we did last year? We already have an accumulation of 219 years of laws on the books.
Posted by: RBW on February 25, 2009 08:55 PMNo, by protocol every political appointee is asked to resign by Inauguration Day. I believe anyone who would have refused to do so would be fired (which is easy as can be since no political has civil service protection).
5 -
Trust me, the money is chump change compared to the actual budgets of the departments...and unused money can be moved around internally. So, nada on the savings.
Posted by: Eric Ealring on February 25, 2009 09:11 PMHe pointed out that the high-visibility chairs will likely be filled by 'moderate' and publicly known figureheads - and the next tier down will get the fonctionnaires from the Politburo, who do the real hatchet work.
Perhaps in this case, ACORN has so exhausted itself by researching graveyards and old phonebooks for voter registrations, that it hasn't yet submitted its list of thugs for those hatchetman and hatchetfemme positions.
Posted by: Insufficiently Sensitive on February 25, 2009 10:07 PMAnd the point raised by IS @ #10 is a major concern; and not all at lower-level positions, I might add (shudder to think what eco-looney socialist policies Carol Browner will be pushing in her new high-level position (note she was prominently featured on one of their websites as a darling of the International Socialist movement; until her info was taken down shortly after she was appointed to the Obama Administration) ).
Posted by: Methow Ken on February 25, 2009 11:37 PMCase 2: The Commerce Secretary is supposed to run the census, except Obama wants that job to be under the Chief of Staff. There is nothing else for Commerce to do. I don't blame the one guy for quitting. Why is the census so important? Right now, the Democrats are jigging the system so they will have unlimited power for the next two decades or until there is another revolution. The census will be fudged so that big liberal Democrat cities will increase their representation.
Case 3: Obama is having no problem bypassing the Senate confirmation process by hiring all the czars and staffs to support the czars.
Let's not be polite here. The guy has been planning this since August of last year and while he has only been in office a short time he has had a long, long time to plan this with his henchmen (can I say that since he is from Chicago?).
Posted by: swatter on February 26, 2009 07:12 AMKarl Rove, as if on cue, took apart Obama's speech and compared to the scare and fear tactics as a person using "strawmen" to advance his agenda.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123561484923478287.html
A high-level official in the Department of Homeland Security said that Ms. Napolitano had not been informed about the raid on Tuesday before it happened, and that she was seeking details about its planning and scope.
"She was not happy about it because it's inconsistent with her position, and the president's position on these matters," said the official, who agreed to discuss the matter on condition of anonymity because the secretary had not authorized the conversation.
The Ds, unlike the Rs, are not above class warfare and are the most hypocritical, insentive phobes and will do anything, including destabilizing the economies and politics of the world, to further their agenda.
Posted by: swatter on February 26, 2009 08:19 AMBlagojevich's administration hired Roland W. Burris II as a senior counsel for the state's housing authority Sept. 10 -- about six weeks after the Internal Revenue Service slapped a $34,163 tax lien on Burris II and three weeks after a mortgage company filed a foreclosure suit on his South Side house.
Posted by: Medic/Vet on February 26, 2009 08:53 AMAnd being that is Chicago corruption....ahem....I mean politics, this is somehow shocking? Perhaps Burris Sr. can ad the phrase "for sale" on his pompous shrine to himself that has already been built, next to the self made "trailblazer" nonsense. What a hack, Sr. and Jr.
Posted by: TJ on February 26, 2009 09:55 AMThe reason the budget deficit is irrelevant is because it's the Slavers doing it. The last GOP/Bush budget was 2006 and had a $162 billion deficit. Now we have a $1.7 TRILLION deficit.
So, in Slaver "logic":
$162 billion deficit = BAD
$1.7 trillion deficit = GOOD
HOPE AND CHANGE!
Posted by: Shanghai Dan on February 26, 2009 09:56 AMI'm not surprised at all.
Just getting a kick out of Obama and his many taxes cheats. Even tax cheats from his own city & state.
Conflict of interest anywhere?
You know, I knew this was going to happen and I was going to sit it out and just retire and reap the new bennies of retirement. Just isn't in my nature to be quiet, I guess.
I'm already gone public with one of my issues. More to come.
Posted by: swatter on February 26, 2009 10:23 AMThe 162 Billion dollar value is completely phoney - it doesn't include the Iraq or Afghanistan operations or Katrina.
Don't you ever get tired of the "Slave Crap" crap? All the conservative Southern Democrats are now Republicans now so it doesn't even make sense - give it up.
Posted by: Robert on February 26, 2009 10:37 AMTalk about the pot calling the kettle black.
M/V, where do you hang out on the net when you aren't at SP? I sole source my comments here but all we do here is talk about the 2010 and 2012 elections and positioning for them when Obama is instituting socialism and usurping the power of the legislative branch (per Robert Byrd).
Posted by: swatter on February 26, 2009 01:11 PMWell buddy.
I'm restoring my hot rod and have been doing some consulting (medical) for a few places, helping out at my granddaughters school.
When we had a few nice days, I was diving and working on my back porch. Not much of a bar person.
Yes I saw the comment from Bird... LOL How are the lib's going to handle that statement.
So how long before they call him a racist. (-: Granted he 'use' to be.
Not to make you jealous. I leave this friday night for San Diego. Sweet sunshine, some diving and darn... work too. )-:
O-well, can't have it all. (-:
Posted by: Medic/Vet on February 26, 2009 02:02 PMI don't recall ever leaving. Gee, someone has the gall to question Caribou Barbie or Gov. Jindall, clearly they must be labeled as a misogynist and racist and therefore banned from this site. So funny coming at a time when the GOP is railing against free speech restrictions.
I'd guess I expected more from the Hypocrisy Party, thanks Swatter for ruining my hopes that we could all just get along. =P
The 162 Billion dollar value is completely phoney - it doesn't include the Iraq or Afghanistan operations or Katrina.
And the numbers bandied about by your Marxist Messiah are real? Do you still proclaim the canard lofted by your Slavery Party that Clinton balanced the budget? Either you accept off-budget items as off-budget (meaning that Clinton "balanced" the budget, and the 2006 budget deficit was $162 billion), or you don't (in which case Clinton did not balance the budget, and the 2006 budget deficit was around $260 billion).
But here's a good question for you: how much budget deficit is acceptable? What's the limit where you draw the line?
Don't you ever get tired of the "Slave Crap" crap?
No. It is an accurate description of that Political party. They are the party of hate, intolerance, and division. It is not just skin tone they hate, but opinions different from their own. And they seek to use economic chains to enslave all to the Federal Government. Witness your Marxist Messiah's plan to add $8 TRILLION to the national debt over the next 10 years.
All the conservative Southern Democrats are now Republicans now so it doesn't even make sense - give it up.
Really? No one told Robert "sheets" Byrd!
Posted by: Shanghai Dan on February 26, 2009 07:30 PMAre you saying that Eric is not helping the economy by taking the unemployment that he has been paying into?
I thought unemployment benefits were a huge part of BHO's recovery project.
I thought Eric was doing his part....
Silly me.
Posted by: cps on February 26, 2009 09:19 PMWe used to agree and disagree on content, but now, it is another story.
Posted by: swatter on February 27, 2009 06:54 AMI seem to recall you calling me a racist because I noticed (like many of my fellow Americas did) that Gov. Jindal's speech patterns sounded like Kennith, a character from a popular comedy show.
I don't pick on Caribou Barbie because she's a woman, but rather the fact she is walking hypocrite who was wholly unqualified for the VP slot she was nominated for. You injecting racism/sexism/character attacks into areas where there are none.
We used to agree and disagree on content, but now, it is another story.
I'm more than happy to discuss and possibly disagree with on the content or anything else. If you argue intellectuality I'm happy to respond in an intellectual manner. Sadly the most common posters (Bill, Ragnar, and Dan) choose to engage in bitter, nasty, destructive and petty arguments. As the level of constructive dialogue goes down I am forced to respond at the same level.
Here's a roster of top posts from Spring 2005, midway through his tenure:
Secretary: John W. Snow
Deputy Secretary: VACANT
Under Secretary (International Affairs): Tim Adams (designee)
Under Secretary (Domestic Finance): VACANT
Under Secretary (Enforcement): Stuart Levey
General Counsel: Arnold I. Havens
Treasurer: Anna Escobedo Cabral
Assistant Secretary (Economic Policy): Mark Warshawsky
Assistant Secretary (Financial Institutions): VACANT
Assistant Secretary (Financial Markets): Timothy Bitsberger
Fiscal Assistant Secretary: Donald V. Hammond
Assistant Secretary (International Affairs): Randal K. Quarles
Assistant Secretary (Legislative Affairs): John Duncan
Assistant Secretary (Management): VACANT
Assistant Secretary (Public Affairs): Rob Nichols
Assistant Secretary (Tax Policy): VACANT
Assistant Secretary (Terrorist Financing): Juan C. Zarate
Assistant Secretary (Intelligence and Analysis): VACANT