From Bloomberg News on 03/17/09:
President Barack Obama’s decision to place czars above Cabinet-level agencies presents dangers beyond confusion over who’s in charge and an organizational chart that looks like pasta carbonara.
There’s also the potential for a constitutional crisis.
Obama’s czars, the most ever appointed by an administration, are likely to have the authority to influence or make decisions for Cabinet-level agencies. Yet they aren’t confirmed by Congress and don’t have to respond to pesky requests to testify before oversight committees.
From Open Salon on 06/05/2009:
Originally, the title Czar (derived from Caesar) meant Emperor in the European medieval sense of the term, that is, a ruler who claims the same rank as a Roman emperor, with the approval of another emperor or a supreme ecclesiastical official (the Pope or the Ecumenical Patriarch).
Occasionally, the word could be used to designate other, non-Christian, supreme rulers. In Russia and Bulgaria the imperial connotations of the term were blurred with time and, by the 19th century, it had come to be viewed as an equivalent of King.
Make no mistake, he knows exactly what he is doing. This is a first-rate power grab by a power-hungry President. You see the great thing about czar’s is that they operate with impunity and they are “under the radar” when it comes to making policy. They are accountable to nobody, except the administration.
So in effect we have NON-ELECTED officials, who are backed by The White House, who are given the tools and resources to do the bidding of the President and they are accountable to NO ONE! These czar’s don’t have to undergo Senate Confirmation Hearings, they just get appointed.
From UPI on 03/05/2009:
White House officials say circumstances makes it critical to have so-called super aides while lawmakers and outside experts expressed fear that Obama is creating a system that is beyond congressional oversight and creating potential conflict among his advisers, the Los Angeles Times reported Thursday.
From Business & Media Institute on 6/8/2009:
Neil Cavuto thinks Obama’s czars should be labeled what they really are: “evil despots accountable to no one.”
Since Obama took office in January, he has created new positions to enforce his agenda. A pay czar, regulatory czar, border czar, cyber czar, and Great Lakes czar are among the multitude of appointed loyalists, numbering more than 20 by some accounts.
Agreeing with Cavuto, Wstreet’s Charles Payne suggested the czars be called “15 hand puppets accountable to the hand.” Payne was concerned that Obama wanting to reduce the wage gap by “pushing the top down.” “What I worry about is that they’re gonna get it done, through threats, intimidation, new rules, new regulations and new taxes,” he said, referring to the czars.
Gary Kaltbaum of GaryK.com worried that the czars’ power to interfere with the market will have harmful effects. “Where is this going to end?” he fervently asked, “And obviously, it’s not going to end. This is all about putting too much power in too few hands.”
Adam Lashinky, senior writer of Fortune Magazine, noted that the czars are doing the work of cabinet members. “There’s ample power in the Treasury Department and the Energy Department, etcetera to get these things done,” he insisted, “and I don’t think there should be a commissar, which is really what this is. It’s not an encouraging thing.”
Cavuto also pointed out that Obama never once mentioned the word “czar” during his campaign, and now he has 15 of them. “We must stress these czars are answerable only to the big guy – the president … I don’t think people envisioned this.”
From ForeignPolicy.com on 04/16/2009:
It has finally happened. With yesterday’s naming of Border Czar Alan Bersin, the Obama administration has by any reasonable reckoning passed the Romanov Dynasty in the production of czars. The Romanovs ruled Russia from 1613 with the ascension of Michael I through the abdication of Czar Nicholas II in 1917. During that time, they produced 18 czars. While it is harder to exactly count the number of Obama administration czars, with yesterday’s appointment it seems fair to say it is now certainly in excess of 18.
In addition to Border Czar Alan Bersin, we have
- energy czar Carol Browner,
- urban czar Adolfo Carrion, Jr.,
- infotech czar Vivek Kundra,
- faith-based czar Joshua DuBois,
- health reform czar Nancy-Ann DeParle,
- new TARP czar Herb Allison,
- stimulus accountability czar Earl Devaney,
- non-proliferation czar Gary Samore,
- terrorism czar John Brennan,
- regulatory czar Cass Sunstein,
- drug czar Gil Kerlikowske, and
- Guantanamo closure czar Daniel Fried. We also have a host of special envoys that fall into the czar category including
- AfPak special envoy Richard Holbrooke,
- Mideast peace envoy George Mitchell,
- special advisor for the Persian Gulf and Southwest Asia Dennis Ross,
- Sudan special envoy J. Scott Gration and
- climate special envoy Todd Stern.
That’s 18.
Authority to influence or make decisions.
Not confirmed by Congress.
Doesn’t have to testify.
The Chicago way.
Here is the steaming pile of Hope And Change that +60 million people wanted.
