Commentary from Co-Anchor of ABC News’ 20/20
abc NEWS
Meet the New Boss; Same as the Old Boss
07/30/2009 12:19 PM
“The biggest problems that we’re facing right now have to do with George Bush trying to bring more and more power into the executive branch and not go through Congress at all. And that’s what I intend to reverse when I’m president of the United States.”
That is what Senator Obama said while campaigning. But instead of reversing the Bush power grab, Obama’s increased it. I’d think the media would point out the inconsistency now that Obama has appointed “czars” for the auto industry, health care industry, executive pay, Mideast Peace, green jobs, etc. We’re up to 30 “czars” and still counting. At least the Republicans are pointing it out. Too bad that most waited until they were out of power to discover their fear of executive overreach.
Eric Cantor, one of the more sensible people in the political swamp, writes:
The president has embarked on an end-run around the legislative branch of historic proportions. To be sure, the appointment of a few special officers to play a constructive role in a given administration is nothing new. What is new is the elevation of so many czars, with so much authority on endless policy fronts. Vesting such broad authority in the hands of people not subjected to Senate confirmation and congressional oversight poses a grave threat to our system of checks and balances.
… the current administration has more czars than Imperial Russia.
The administration has a Mideast peace czar (not to be confused with the Mideast policy czar), a Sudan czar and a Guantanamo closure czar. Then there’s the green jobs czar, sometimes in conflict with the energy czar, who talks to the technology czar, who sometimes crosses paths with the urban affairs czar. We mustn’t forget the Great Lakes czar or the WMD czar, who no doubt works hand in hand with the terrorism czar…
At least the “pay czar” Ken Feinberg, is a very smart and responsible guy. But that’s not the point. We need less government, not more titles. …
http://blogs.abcnews.com/johnstossel/2009/07/meet-the-new-boss-same-as-the-old-boss-.html
John Stossel says:
Met the New Boss; Same as the Old Boss
And Mr. Stossel went on to prove his point by quoting from Senator Obama:
“The biggest problems that we’re facing right now have to do with George Bush trying to bring more and more power into the executive branch and not go through Congress at all. And that’s what I intend to reverse when I’m president of the United States.”
Mr. Stossel said:
That is what Senator Obama said while campaigning. But instead of reversing the Bush power grab, Obama’s increased it. I’d think the media would point out the inconsistency now that Obama has appointed “czars” for the auto industry, health care industry, executive pay, Mideast Peace, green jobs, etc. We’re up to 30 “czars” and still counting. At least the Republicans are pointing it out. Too bad that most waited until they were out of power to discover their fear of executive overreach.
http://blogs.abcnews.com/johnstossel/2009/07/meet-the-new-boss-same-as-the-old-boss-.html
The latter day neocons “broke” more than an administration could “fix” in many years. There is a pressing need to have competent managers(czars?) attending to some of the many things that the Bush team broke. And yet there is a big need for many more czars. It is not humanly possible to fix what the Bush team broke with the standard contingent administrative personnel.
Many more CZARS are needed:
(1) Why doesn’t America have a double standard in impeachment CZAR.
(2) What happened to Mr. Bush’s weapons of mass destruction CZAR.
(3) Why did the Bush team start the Iraq war CZAR.
(4) Who outed Valerie Plame CZAR.
(5) Why did Mr. Bush invite terrorists to “bring it on” CZAR.
(6) Did the neocons have a CAGING CZAR?
(7) Who was the torture CZAR?
(8) Who was the VOODOO ECONOMICS CZAR?
(9) What CZAR decided to allow the financial industry to “let it all hang out”, “go for broke”,”shoot the moon”?
(10) What CZAR would like to have seen a personal attorney seated on the Supreme Court?
Not only is the Barack Obama administration not like the latter-day neocons administration – one would be hard-pressed to find ANY OTHER AMERICAN ADMINISTRATION with managerial talent similar to the Bush teams. And it can also be said that the neocons are in class by themselves.
And the CZAR detector also said:
We’re up to 30 “czars” and still counting. At least the Republicans are pointing it out. Too bad that most waited until they were out of power to discover their fear of executive overreach.
Now who is kidding who/m here? The Republicans did not point out America’s recession until it was too late. Republicans don’t seem to easily “step outside the party line”.
The Bush team broke a lot of laws – and what did the pre-2006 Congress say? The pre-2006 Congress was standing “SHOULDER-TO-SHOULDER with the Executive Branch. The pre-2006 Congress was busy “correcting” the laws that the Executive Branch broke. It looked like the pre-2006 Congress was “riding shotgun” for the swashbuckling Executive Branch.
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October 22, 2009 at 11:47 am |
[...] One of the above news organization spoke of a US plan for executive pay-cuts while the other spoke of “pay czar”. I knew I had recently seen and commented on the “czar” description of America’s government but I needed to search for the details. I found my post that related to John Stossel’s “pay czars” here. [...]