Posted on 07/26/2009 3:47:06 AM PDT by Scanian
If you can't beat 'em, czar 'em. This is the standard operating procedure in Obama World. The time-honored Senate confirmation process proved to be a dangerous landmine for one too many of the president's picks. But the White House found the perfect cure for Obama Nominee Withdrawal Syndrome: Avoid future debacles by circumventing the nomination process altogether.
So far, czars have been installed in at least 35 posts through presidential executive orders that require no Senate approval. No Senate review, no questions. No questions, no problems.
The Obama administration has created a two-tiered government -- fronted by Cabinet secretaries able to withstand public scrutiny (some of them, just barely) and then managed behind the scenes by shadow secretaries with broad powers beyond congressional reach. Bureaucratic chaos serves as a useful smokescreen to obscure the true source of policy decision-making. Energy czar Carol Browner epitomized the secretive dealings of these offices when she advised auto industry executives this month to "to put nothing in writing, ever" about their meetings with her.
While past administrations dating back to the Nixon era have designated such "super aides," none has extended the concept as widely as Obama has.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Answering to no one BUT the “one” who not only rewrites history but is furiously rewriting the Constitution before his adoring public catches on to the con. He is, after all, much slicker than madoff.
This administration has perpetrated the greatest fraud in the history of the country. And, it continues even today. He has established a ‘government behind the government’ to push his marxist agenda, bankrupt the nation, and foster an unprecedented expansion in the dependent segment of our society.
It’s time to take back the country.
This is an important issue. Obama’s clandestine government is even scarier than the one you see.
BTW, I think Michelle Malkin is getting better; her work is more reasoned and obviously very well researched.
Is that quote by Rattner real?
You’re right, it IS time to take back the country. And the process starts in YOUR hometown. YOU need to become a “community organizer”.
Malkin ends the article by asking, “Who will stop them?” My questions is: how can they be stopped?
From the linked article.
Nancy DeParle, Health Czar
Former Kansas Democrat Governor Kathleen Sebelius won Senate confirmation as Health and Human Services Secretary. But the real power lies with with newly-created health czar Nancy-Ann Min DeParle. Her official title: Director of the White House Office for Health Reform.
DeParle ran the behemoth Medicare and Medicaid programs under Bill Clinton. She parlayed her government experience into a lucrative private-sector stint. Over the past three years, she made nearly $6 million from her work in the health care industry. Despite President Obama’s loud denunciations of the revolving-door lobbyist culture in Washington, DeParle’s industry ties didn’t bother the White House.
She served as an investment advisor at JP Morgan Partners, LLC; sat on the board of directors at Boston Scientific Corporation; and held directorships at Accredo Health Group Inc., Triad Hospitals (now part of Community Health Systems), and DaVita Corporation. In all, she sat on at least 10 boards while advising JP Morgan and working as managing director at a private equity firm, CCMP Capital.
From 2002 to 2008, while holding all those titles, DeParle also served as a member of the government-chartered Medicare Payment Advisory Committee (MedPAC), an influential panel that advises Congress on what Medicare should cover and at what price. Last month, former MedPAC member DeParle cozily announced that Obama was “open to making recommendations of [MedPAC] mandatory unless opposed by a joint resolution of Congress.”
Obama famously signed an early executive order requiring appointees to pledge not to participate “in any particular matter involving specific parties that is directly and substantially related to any former employer or former clients” for a period of two years from the date of his or her appointment. But it’s hard to imagine any health care reform-related issue that won’t involve one of DeParle’s former employers, clients, and corporate boards in the health care industry. She earned at least $376,000 from Cerner Corporation, for example, which specializes in health information technology. As health czar, DeParle has unmeasured clout in directing $19 billion of federal stimulus money earmarked for, yes, health information technology.
Last week, a Washington, D.C. citizen watchdog filed suit to force the White House to disclose which health care lobbyists and executives it had met with this year to discuss insurance takeover legislation. White House counsel Greg Craig refused to disclose which administration officials attended the meetings. But at least two of the industry visitors have ties to DeParle. William C. Weldon is chairman of Johnson & Johnson, which paid DeParle $7,500 for a recent speech. Wayne Smith is chief executive of Community Health Systems, which merged with Triad Hospitals - where DeParle served on the board of directors. DeParle’s options were converted to cash payments worth $1.05 million.
Despite Obama’s lip service to transparency, the public is in the dark about which assets DeParle has divested and how many times, if any, DeParle has recused herself from policy matters and meetings. Czardom has its privileges.
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