(Hat tip to Orange County Independent Task Force on Anti-Semitism and Zionist Organization of America)
On July 8, 36 members of Congress sent a letter to Secretary of Education Arne Duncan in regards to university campus anti-Semitism. The link to the letter can be accessed here from an article by the Orange County Independent Task Force on Anti-Semitism.
http://octaskforce.wordpress.com/2010/07/12/36-members-of-congress-july-8th-letter-to-education-secretary-arne-duncan/
In reviewing the names, I was quite disappointed to note that my representative, John Campbell (R-CA), who is running for re-election in November, did not sign.
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It was only after World War II that presidents began appointing people by this means to avoid Senate opposition and for tactical reasons. Eisenhower used a recess appointment to seat Justice William Brennan on the Supreme Court in 1956 because he thought he would benefit politically from appointing a northeastern Catholic before the election of that year. (Brennan was subsequently quickly confirmed by the Senate.) But Eisenhower made only three recess appointments in his eight years as president. President Obama made 15 recess appointments just this week. Part of the problem here is that the Senate confirmation process has become so beclotted with background checks and document searches that nominees often have to wait many months before a hearing is even called.
George W. Bush gave John Bolton a recess appointment as ambassador to the UN in 2005 when it became clear that Democrats would filibuster his nomination. That was a misuse of a constitutional power to avoid another misuse of a constitutional power. And if two wrongs don't make a right, it is certainly understandable. But Obama used a recess appointment for Dr. Berwick not to avoid a filibuster but to avoid the Senate's advice and consent power altogether. He blamed — surprise! — the Republicans for delaying the process, but that is a bald-face lie, as Republicans would be only too happy to have hearings on Dr. Berwick's appointment in order to put the deeply unpopular ObamaCare back on Page One four months before the midterm elections.
President Obama's action here shows his contempt for everything that stands in the way of his agenda, even the Constitution.
John Steele Gordon
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