How many czars in White House?

[kokonut]

What is a "czar"? Well, a czar is tasked with spearheading major policy efforts for the White House as an end-run around the legislative branch.

The Constitution mandates that the Senate confirm Cabinet-level department heads and other appointees in positions of authority — known as “principal officers.” This gives Congress — elected by the people — the power to compel executive decision-makers to testify and be held accountable by someone other than the president. It also ensures that key appointees cannot claim executive privilege when subpoenaed to come before Congress.

- Eric Cantor - Too Many Presidential Czars Keep Congress in the Dark - washingtonpost.com


First, let's look at what Obama said in 2008 about power and avoiding Congress.

“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.” - Sen. Barack Obama, March 31, 2008.

And how many czars does Obama have?

32!

Afghanistan Czar: Richard Holbrooke

AIDS Czar: Jeffrey Crowley

Auto recovery Czar: Ed Montgomery

Border Czar: Alan Bersin

California Water Czar: David J. Hayes

Car Czar: Ron Bloom

Central Region Czar: Dennis Ross

Domestic Violence Czar: Lynn Rosenthal

Drug Czar: Gil Kerlikowske

Economic Czar: Paul Volcker

Energy and Environment Czar: Carol Brower

Faith-Based Czar: Joshua DuBois

Great Lakes Czar: Cameron Davis

Green Jobs Czar: Van Jones - he quit....a quitter.

Guantanamo Closure Czar: Daniel Fried

Health Czar: Nancy-Ann DeParle

Information Czar: Vivek Kundra

International Climate Czar: Todd Stern

Intelligence Czar: Dennis Blair

Mideast Peace Czar: George Mitchell

Mideast Policy Czar: (see WaPo)

Pay Czar: Kenneth Feinberg

Regulatory Czar: Cass Sunstein

Science Czar: John Holdren

Stimulus Accountability Czar: Earl Devaney

Sudan Czar: J. Scott Gration

TARP Czar: Herb Allison

Terrorism Czar: John Brennan

Technology Czar: Aneesh Chopra

Urban Affairs Czar: Adolfo Carrion Jr.

Weapons Czar: Ashton Carter

WMD Policy Czar: Gary Samore

President Obama's 'Czars' - Politico Staff - POLITICO.com

Why does Obama surround himself with historic number of czars? And we know that some of these people haven't been vetted properly (see Van Jones quitting because of his radical views and truther were exposed by bloggers).

The point here is not that President Obama's reliance on czars is illegal (although it does raise significant, unresolved constitutional issues). Nor is it that these czars are bad people. It's that we have not been able to vet them, and that we have no idea what they're doing. It's that candidate Obama made a pledge to keep Congress in the light. Yet less than six months after his inauguration, the president appears intent to keep Congress more and more in the dark. Dozens of czars at a time.

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Eric Cantor - Too Many Presidential Czars Keep Congress in the Dark - washingtonpost.com

Oooh, the irony!! Not to mention the hypocrisy of Obama's.

Yet, czars are often steering the ship and not Obama. This is nothing more than duplicative bureaucracies with overlapping responsibilities by adding more and more layers. This example is the very microcosm of govt waste, inefficiency, expanding power, expanding govt, and greater control over Americans.

And now, I sit back and watch the hypocrisy begins while people fall over themselves defending Obama's every move with nary a criticism lobbed his way. A sign of a hard core liberal?? We'll see.

 

[jillio]

Slow day for the extreme right wing websites. Someone is really having to dig up the :bsflag: today.

 

[kokonut]

Makes ya wonder just how incompetent and inexperienced Obama is.

32 czars? That's more czars Russia ever had in her history.

 

[jillio]

Naw...makes you wonder how incompetent people writing this crap and then those who are digging it up and re-posting it are are.

 

[kokonut]

I see. Defending Obama at every turn?

I rest my case.

 

[jillio]

Rest your case, please. It is getting old and tiresome.

But where you are making a fatal error is assuming that criticism of the absurdity is defense of another. Such dichotomy.:roll:

 

[Reba]

Naw...makes you wonder how incompetent people writing this crap and then those who are digging it up and re-posting it are are.

...and you have enough time on your hands to respond to "crap".

 

[kokonut]

More on Van Jones, who quit his czar post.

Obama 'green jobs' adviser quits amid controversy

It had to take well researched bloggers to shine the light on this guy's radical and extremist views, and a 911 truther, too. Yet, the Obama adminstration failed to vet this guy of such a lofty (and dangerous) position to be in.

 

[jillio]

...and you have enough time on your hands to respond to "crap".

Today I do...how about you?

 

[kokonut]

...and you have enough time on your hands to respond to "crap".

It's clearly a defensive response. That's all. No need to worry about it.

More on czars soon....

 

[jillio]

It's clearly a defensive response. That's all. No need to worry about it.

More on czars soon....

Clearly to whom? You?

If you wish to discuss czars, you need to start a discussion on another country's political system. Or are you attempting to coin a new buzzword like "socialist" and "marxist" in an attempt to create a climate of fear?

 

[jillio]

More on Van Jones, who quit his czar post.

Obama 'green jobs' adviser quits amid controversy

It had to take well researched bloggers to shine the light on this guy's radical and extremist views, and a 911 truther, too. Yet, the Obama adminstration failed to vet this guy of such a lofty (and dangerous) position to be in.

There is already a thread devoted to this topic. Discuss it there. You seem to mistake quantity for quality.

 

[kokonut]

Hmmmm...Why the obsession with czars? Czars, in the annals of history, don't exactly have good reps. For a country that railed against royalty, we're certainly fascinated with it, and dub everyone we can't come up with an imaginative title for with an imperial sobriquet.

Hmmmm...Don't we already have a Czar-in-Chief, alias Commander-in-Chief, who is supposed to be in charge of the military, and claims that Congress doesn't have the know-how to direct military action, but he does?

OpEdNews - Article: Calling All Czars

Kind of funny article since it was published in 2007 complaining about Bush' czars which wasn't hardly that many compared to Obama's kingdom full of czars.

 

[Reba]

Today I do...how about you?

I multi task.

 

[kokonut]

Now, now. Let's not get defensive.

 

[jillio]

OpEdNews - Article: Calling All Czars

Kind of funny article since it was published in 2007 complaining about Bush' czars which wasn't hardly that many compared to Obama's kingdom full of czars.

Do you live in the U.S.? You appear to be confusing political systems.

 

[jillio]

I multi task.

As do I...hence the time.

 

[kokonut]

Question of the day.

How many Czars does it take, to make a point?

 

[kokonut]

Now, now... let's not redirect this. A sure sign of a defensive posture by going the red herring route.

Bush has had a lot of czars, too. Does that help?

Now, back to Obama's ridiculous number of czars.

 

[jillio]

Tells us, oh wise and knowledgable one, how many czars does it take to make a point?:roll:

But I'd be careful, since you have already crossed the line into accusation on a cultural and innappropriate level. Your secrets are beginning to show.