An Imperial Presidency

Steve shares a statement from Congresswoman Michele Bachmann (R-MN) on the GM takeover that I think is compelling.

A couple of points to consider is that for starters it seems you are only able to get help or be heard if you have political connections.  Then what is with all of the “czars.”  Yes I know many Presidents have had them, but no President has had as many with such power as President Barack Obama.  Tabitha Hale shared a list of our current count – 16 and counting:

• Drug Czar: Gil Kerlikowske, former Seattle police chief
• Energy and Environment Czar: Carol Browner
• Homeland Security Czar: John Brennan
• Health Czar: Nancy-Ann DeParle
• Urban Affairs Czar: Adolfo Carrion, Jr.
• Economic Czar: Paul A. Volcker
• Regulatory Czar: Cass R. Sunstein
• Technology Czar: Vivek Kundra
• Government Performance Czar: Jeffrey Zients
• Border Czar: Alan Bersin
• WMD Policy Czar: Gary Samore
• Intelligence Czar (Director of National Intelligence): Dennis Blair
• Car Czar: Steven Rattner
• Pay Czar: Kenneth R. Feinberg
• Great Lakes Czar: Cameron Davis
• Cyber Czar: TBA

Isn’t this why we have cabinet secretaries, the appointment process, senate and house committees, you know processes that have elected representatives involved or providing accountability and oversight?  Who oversees the czars?  Only one, The One, President Obama who seems to want to circumvent Congressional oversight which would include those pesky Republicans.  I know, I know, all they’ll do is get in the way of hope and change.

Is this even constitutional?   A top-ranking Democrat in the Senate doesn’t believe so.

This has become too much for the longest-serving senator in U.S. history to stomach. Democratic Senator Robert Byrd is the president pro tempore of the U.S. Senate. Even though Senate rules vest most powers in the Senate majority leader, the president pro tempore is a constitutional officer, and third in line to the U.S. presidency (after the vice president and the Speaker of the House). This office is held by a Democrat, who has been serving in the Senate since before Barack Obama was even born.

Senator Byrd wrote a letter to President Obama in February, criticizing the president’s strategy of creating czars to manage important areas of national policy. Senator Byrd said that these appointments violate both the constitutional system of checks and balances and the constitutional separation of powers, and is a clear attempt to evade congressional oversight.

This, along with the demand that Congress does his bidding on his timetable we do seem to have an Imperial Presidency in the making.