Friday, August 13, 2010

Politics Stops At The Water's Edge When You Die

I tend to think that's a silly construct, but the other extreme doesn't help either. Unlike many other agencies, the State Department has a history of putting career civil service professionals in Senate-confirmable posts. Frank Ricciardone one such gentleman, having served previously in Afghanistan, Iraq, Turkey, and Egypt. His was first sworn in as an Ambassador under George W. Bush. He received a favorable vote on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

But he's not even going to get a vote in the full Senate. Apparently this nomination is so beyond the pale to enough Senate Republicans that he's going to have to bide his time doing something else.

I'm rapidly approaching the point where I think Obama should start making recess en masse. Not a few dozen appointees, but everybody. Judges, sub-cabinet officials, the whole lot of them. Dare the Republicans to say that it's more important that they have input on who the Undersecretary of Treasury for International Affairs is than that we even have someone in that post. It's just gotten ridiculous.

(edited to properly place more blame on Senate Republicans)

1 comment:

Ron E. said...

I completely agree. Obama should give a recess appointment to any nominee who the GOP obstructs for the rest of this session. Then next year assuming the Democrats keep the Senate they should restore majority rules to the Senate. I'm not holding my breath waiting for either to happen.