Sheriff

Is Obama toughening up? He got Sen Richard Shelby (R-AL) to back the hell down and now 27 of the nominees the GOP were holding up for purely political reasons have been confirmed. The White House statement:

Today, the United States Senate confirmed 27 of my high-level nominees, many of whom had been awaiting a vote for months.

At the beginning of the week, a staggering 63 nominees had been stalled in the Senate because one or more senators placed a hold on their nomination. In most cases, these holds have had nothing to do with the nominee's qualifications or even political views, and these nominees have already received broad, bipartisan support in the committee process.

Instead, many holds were motivated by a desire to leverage projects for a Senator's state or simply to frustrate progress. It is precisely these kinds of tactics that enrage the American people.

And so on Tuesday, I told Senator McConnell that if Republican senators did not release these holds, I would exercise my authority to fill critically-needed positions in the federal government temporarily through the use of recess appointments. This is a rare but not unprecedented step that many other presidents have taken. Since that meeting, I am gratified that Republican senators have responded by releasing many of these holds and allowing 29 nominees to receive a vote in the Senate.

While this is a good first step, there are still dozens of nominees on hold who deserve a similar vote, and I will be looking for action from the Senate when it returns from recess. If they do not act, I reserve the right to use my recess appointment authority in the future.

Now that's the George Bushish stuff we don't mind having back. Y'see, it turns out the public is pissed off about the GOP abuse of the filibuster, to the point that a majority of Americans want the filibuster to go away. Per J.P. Green, G.O.P. stands for "Gridlock, Obstruction and Paralysis."

Now, I understand that the traditional role of Conservatism, per William Buckley, has been to "stand athwart history yelling, 'Stop!'" And while slowing down the political process may have its merits at times, certainly the failure of that movement in the face of Civil Rights, for example, is far from flattering to that philosophy.

History marches on whether or not the Right believes they can control it. What is the point of standing athwart Congress to stop health care reform when there's a locomotive running wild anyway -- the rising costs of health care, which the private sector is unable to stop. Just ask the individual subscribers to Anthem Blue Cross, as their premiums suddenly soar 39%.

Standing athwart or otherwise screwing up with a jobs bill under the guise of "bipartisanship" isn't going to stop history from evicting a family with unemployed parents out of a home. It won't stop history from starving them, either.

And standing athwart (who uses a word like that?) Congress to stop anti-climate change legislation isn't going to stop the Arctic Caps from melting.

Oh, and by the way, yes, you're winters may get more severe than ever before as well.

So here's to Obama acting the one role we expect every President to play if he wants to get re-elected and/or go down in history as a hero rather than a wimp. Party, leaning or ideology aside, we want someone who can not only give his word, but can enforce it.

C'mon, Barack. Let's make this 2010 a fun year.