Obama does a goody

[sendero]

I am a pretty vocal critic of president Obama, I feel like he has squandered an opportunity that appears in the presidency only once in a generation or more.

That said, he has done something good. First, he used a recess appointment to circumvent the assholery of the Republicans. That, in and of itself, is a step in the right direction from a president who has gone way to far in trying to appease the opposition.

Second, he used that appointment to install a man with truly extraordinary achievements to his credit, Donald Berwick to the post of Administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

This is good, very good.

[cbayer]

1. K & R

:hi:

[NYC_SKP]

2. Michael Savage's head was exploding over this appointment, so I'm pleased.

Seems like a lot of things the president does has that effect on him.

:P

[librechik]

5. I wish Obama would make enough recess appointments to make ALL their heads explode

sigh

[Enthusiast]

11. Me too! nt

[patrice]

3. The health care professionals I know are kind of apolitical, because they care about one thing and

one thing only: Health Care.

[MadMaddie]

4. The Repugs absolutely do not want qualified people in these

positions. The want to destroy the government and they are not hiding it.

[JoePhilly]

6. I love to see the far right heads explode ... but ...

When Obama ran, he did not run on making their heads explode.

When Bush was President, I was angry that he was CLEARLY not interested in being the President of ALL of America.

Obama, to his credit, has tried to be the President of all America ... and it drives many of us on the left CRAZY.

We know that no one in the GOP would do the same ... love thy neighbor ... turn the other check, love your enemy ... no way would the GOP ever, ever, do anything but kick us in the face.

While it makes us nuts ... Obama has tried to not do what we know they would do.

Do we hate him for that, or respect him for trying to act in a way we wish THEY would act.

Not sure.

[Pirate Smile]

7. A section of Dems or Dem leaning voters wanted Obama to act like a Democratic Bush and are pissed at

him for not doing that. Of course, anyone paying attention to the election or to Obama himself would have known that he was never going to do that - but they still hate on him about it all the time.

[JoePhilly]

9. Agree ...

On one level I want him to do that too ... but that is not how he ran ... he actually ran to be the President of all of America, including the views of those I don't agree with.

I think, after Bush ... and his arrogance ... many of us want Obama to turn the tables ... punch the GOP in the mouth.

Politically, that might be smarter. Not sure.

My hope is that as we enter 2010 elections, he can say "look, I've tried to reach out" ... "the GOP will not work with me, they now vote against policy that they proposed ... and so, I will now not prioritize bipartisan support above anything else.

I actually think he could have said this 4 months ago ... now would be good too.

[spanone]

8. he needs to get real busy... some of the bu$h* recess appts...

As of October 31, 2008, President Bush had made 171 recess appointments.....http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RL33310.pdf


The following relates to recess appointments made by President George W. Bush.

A. Paul Anderson to be a Federal Maritime Commissioner August 22, 2003. <1>

Michael J. Bartlett to be a Member of the National Labor Relations Board January 22, 2002. <2>

Warren Bell to the board of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting in December 2006. <3>

Andrew G. Biggs was named to be Deputy Director of the Social Security Administration April 4, 2007.

John R. Bolton as U.N. Ambassador in August 2005, after having been blocked by the Senate. Bolton was Bush's 106th recess appointment. (FSRN 1 Aug '05)

William B. Cowen to be a Member of the National Labor Relations Board January 22, 2002. <4>

Susan E. Dudley to be Director of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) in the U.S. Office of Management and Budget on April 4, 2007.

Eric S. Edelman as undersecretary of defense for policy to replace Douglas Feith in the No. 3 position in the Pentagon. "Democrats on the Senate Armed Services Committee led by Carl Levin of Michigan, their ranking member,

stalled Edelman's nomination to force the release of documents related to a specialized intelligence unit Feith set up before the conflict." <5>

Gordon R. England to be Deputy Secretary of Defense, January 4, 2006. <6>

Alice S. Fisher to head the Criminal Division in the Department of Justice, after the "nomination stalled over tactics at the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, naval facility." <7>

David W. Fleming to be a Member of the Board of Trustees of the James Madison Memorial Fellowship Foundation (Public) August 22, 2003. <8>

Peter Flory as an Assistant Secretary of Defense, after having been blocked by the Senate. <9>

Sam Fox was named Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenifotentiary of the United States of America to Belgium on April 4, 2007.

Cynthia A. Glassman to be a Member of the Commission of the Securities and Exchange Commission January 22, 2002. <10>

C. Boyden Gray to be the Representative of the United States of America to the European Union, with the Rank and Status of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary January 17, 2006.

Jay Phillip Greene to be a Member of the Board of Trustees of the James Madison Memorial Fellowship Foundation (Academic) August 22, 2003. <11>

Floyd Hall to be a Member of the AMTRAK Reform Board, January 4, 2006. This is the second time that Hall was appointed in a recess appointment. <12>

Tracy A. Henke to be Executive Director of the Office of State and Local Government Coordination and Preparedness at the Department of Homeland Security. <13>

Isacc C. Hunt, Jr. <14> to be a Member of the Commission of the Securities and Exchange Commission January 22, 2002. <15>

JoAnn Johnson to be a Member of the Board of the National Credit Union Administration January 22, 2002. <16>

Peter N. Kirsanow to be a Member of the National Labor Relations Board, January 4, 2006. <17>

Charlotte A. Lane to be a Member of the United States International Trade Commission August 22, 2003. She was nominated on June 7, 2002 and again on January 9, 2003. <18>

Robert D. Lenhard to be a Member of the Federal Election Commission, January 4, 2006. <19>

Deborah Matz to be a Member of the Board of the National Credit Union Administration January 22, 2002.

Ronald E. Meisburg to be General Counsel to the National Labor Relations Board, January 4, 2006. <20>

Steven Kent Mullins to be United States Attorney for the District of South Dakota, vice James E. McMahon, January 9, 2006. <21>

Julie L. Myers to be Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security (Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement), January 4, 2006. <22>

Daniel Pearson to be a Member of the United States International Trade Commission August 22, 2003. He was nominated on November 14, 2002 and again on January 9, 2003. <23>

John Richard Petrocik to be a Member of the Board of Trustees of the James Madison Memorial Fellowship Foundation (Academic) August 22, 2003. <24>

Charles W. Pickering, Sr. to Federal Appeals Court January 17, 2004, from which he had been blocked twice by the Senate. <25><26>

Daniel Pipes to be a Member of the Board of Directors of the United States Institute of Peace August 22, 2003. <27>

Benjamin A. Powell to be General Counsel of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, January 4, 2006. <28>

Anthony J. Principi as chairman of the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission, as well as eight members of the Commission, April 1, 2005.

William H. Pryor, Jr. to 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals February 20, 2004, "in the face of a Democratic filibuster of the nomination." <29><30>

Otto Juan Reich to Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs January 11, 2002. <31>

Ellen R. Sauerbrey to be Assistant Secretary of State (Population, Refugees, and Migration), January 4, 2006. <32>

Eugene Scalia to Solicitor of Labor in the U.S. Department of Labor January 11, 2002.

Peter C. Schaumber to be a Member of the National Labor Relations Board, for the remainder of a five-year term expiring on August 27, 2010. <33>

Dorrance Smith to be Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs, January 4, 2006. <34>

Enrique J. Sosa to be a Member of the AMTRAK Reform Board, January 4, 2006. This is the second time that Sosa was appointed in a recess appointment. <35>

Michael E. Toner to be a Member of the Federal Election Commission March 29, 2002, for the remainder of a term expiring April 30, 2007; first announced November 21, 2001, and nomination sent to Senate March 4, 2002. <36>

Juanita Alicia Vasquez-Gardner to be a Member of the Board of Trustees of the Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation. She was nominated on July 24, 2002 and again on January 9, 2003. <37>

Hans von Spakovsky to be a Member of the Federal Election Commission, January 4, 2006. <38>

Dennis P. Walsh to be a Member of the National Labor Relations Board, January 17, 2006.

Steven T. Walther to be a Member of the Federal Election Commission, January 4, 2006. <39>

John Paul Woodley, Jr. to be an Assistant Secretary of the Army (Civil Works) August 22, 2003. <40>



http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Recess_appointments_made_by_President_George_W._Bush

[eridani]

10. Yes--and let's hope he does a lot more n/t

[Beetwasher]

12. He's Done A Lot More Than That, We've Also Just Found Out He's Been Quietly

banning anti-biotic use in livestock and he's covering all veterans for PTSD, and this is just stuff we've found out about this week. And we have to actually look for these stories since they get little coverage in the Liberal Media.

He's doing a lot of good. Things like this should tell you what you need to know about Obama the man, his motives and where his heart is.

[BrklynLiberal]

13. I would enjoy having more of THAT side of him get some public notoriety..

The repukes are going to be squealing like pigs no matter what he does..so I would enjoy it if he gave them something to REALLY squeal about!!!