Be prepared
It’s the Scout motto, but does it matter in politics?
The New York Times reports that Obama has filled less than half of the positions requiring Senate confirmation:
Of more than 500 senior policymaking positions requiring Senate confirmation, just 43 percent have been filled – a reflection of a White House that grew more cautious after several nominations blew up last spring, a Senate that is intensively investigating nominees and a legislative agenda that has consumed both.
Usually, when these sorts of stats come out, most people clamor to attack or defend the process by which nominees are appointed. The practical question of how quickly presidents are able to assemble an administration is undoubtedly paramount. But is there also an ethical element at least worth considering?
The truth may be that two competing values are at stake.
On the one hand, the arduous Senate confirmation process represents one horn of the “check” in checks and balances. The president may have the right to appoint his own administration, but the confirmation process checks him (or her) in two ways: first, by permitting the Senate a chance to vote a nominee down and, second, by flushing out any latent problems through the rigorous disclosure required for a vote.
As we saw earlier his year with nominees Tom Daschle and Nancy Kelliher, financial disclosure in particular can derail a nomination. While we might debate these two cases as examples of an overly detailed process, the aim of Senate review is to make sure the president doesn’t put cronies and crooks in positions of policymaking power.
On the other hand is the need to have robust tools to implement policy. What do I mean? Arguably, the president has an imperative to implement the program he campaigned on. On this argument, the election is a mandate. The president has been voted into office on the strength of his platform and he has an obligation to pursue that platform once formally inaugurated.
But it’s impossible for a president to successfully execute a policy agenda without an administration. The lack of an adequate staff therefore impedes the discharging of an obligation. The scenario is real, as the Times continues:
While career employees fill many posts on an acting basis, Mr. Obama does not have his own people enacting programs central to his mission. He is trying to fix the financial markets but does not have an assistant treasury secretary for financial markets. He is spending more money on transportation than anyone since Dwight D. Eisenhower but does not have his own inspector general watching how the dollars are used. He is fighting two wars but does not have an Army secretary.
He sent Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to Africa to talk about international development but does not have anyone running the Agency for International Development. He has invited major powers to a summit on nuclear nonproliferation but does not have an assistant secretary of state for nonproliferation.
While Obama is doing better than his predecessors (Bushes I and II and Clinton both had fewer pieces in place at this juncture), there’s work left to be done in filling out his main policymaking staff. The system of checks and balances is a vital and cherished part of our constitutional system. But does it go too far when it deprives the president of a swift and effective means to build a government?
The jury is out, but the stakes are clear.
–Sam
Related posts:
- I, technocrat
- Graham’s vote for Kagan
- Obama’s pragmatism
- Assessing Obama
- Ambassadorships to the highest bidder
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7 Responses to “Be prepared”
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There are 3 forces at work here:
1) Extraordinary caution on behalf of the administration
2) Senate Republican obstructionism. I’ve spoken with a pretty non-controversial mid-level appointee and was shocked at what the GOP pulled
3) Finding qualified nominees willing to go through this process. While we thought the fights would be over the headliners (cabinet-level appointees), the GOP is putting undue scrutiny on the deputy and assistant level appointees.
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