How many czars in White House?

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kokonut said:
Remember, you got pwned over ragtime. And you also got pwned over the word "pwned," too. Not much too worry there. It'll be fodder in 2010 and 2012, that'll be for sure.
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Oh, puh-leeze. "Pwned" over neither one. And "pwned" isn't a word.

Go back to your gaming. Or buy a dictionary, one of the two.
 
I feel like I'm in English class. Isn't this the Internet?
 
I think he'd rather buy tinfoil hats when they're on sale.
 
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*it's a pix of a tv saying - "Regular Programming will resume shortly"
 
CJB said:
I feel like I'm in English class. Isn't this the Internet?
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Yeah, but it is still expected that one will use real words.:giggle: And at least make some sort of attempt to stay on topic.
 
jillio said:
Yeah, but it is still expected that one will use real words.:giggle: And at least make some sort of attempt to stay on topic.
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LOL. Real words FTW. What are those again? ;)
 
1 f0g07 wh47 7h3y 4r3.

That's leet speak for I forgot "what they are". :P
 
Jiro, it's the constant creation of new czar posts I'm getting at. It goes on and on and on.

That is because DeParle holds the newly created post of “health czar”—one of several new “czar” positions that are within the White House and require no Senate review. Sebelius, by contrast, is on tap to become the secretary of health and human services — a position for which Congress has developed well-worn methods of oversight.

Now, with the number of czars growing, some lawmakers and outside experts fear that Obama is concentrating too much policymaking and power within the White House — and also setting up the potential for conflict among his many advisers.

Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) became concerned enough to send a cautionary letter to Obama last week. At times, he said, White House staffers of the past have assumed duties that should be the responsibility of officials cleared through the Senate confirmation process.

“They rarely testify before congressional committees and often shield the information and decision-making process behind the assertion of executive privilege,” Byrd wrote of past czars and White House staffers in similar positions.

At times, he said, one outcome has been to “inhibit openness and transparency, and reduce accountability.” Such “rapid and easy accumulation of power by White House staff can threaten the constitutional system of checks and balances,” Byrd said
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White House czars' power stirs criticism - Chicago Tribune


Stuff of fodder to come.

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"There've been so many czars over last 50 years, and they've all been failures," said Paul Light, an expert on government at New York University. "Nobody takes them seriously anymore." He pointed to officials placed in charge of homeland security and drug policy.

The problem is that "czars" are meant to be all-powerful people who can rise above the problems that plague the federal agencies, he said, but in the end, they can't.
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But turf battles don't disappear with White House czars and may get worse, say some veterans.

If a czar appears to be dictating policy rather than coordinating it, cabinet secretaries may resent it, said Andrew Card, longtime chief of staff to President George W. Bush. "It will I think have a tendency to cause cabinet members to feel as if they're subordinate," Mr. Card says.

Jay Hakes, a historian of U.S. energy policy, said he thinks Ms. Browner is ideally suited for the energy position, but notes the potential for fallout, having studied the administrations of Presidents Franklin Roosevelt, Richard Nixon and Jimmy Carter, who all had energy "czars" of one kind or another. "A lot of cabinet secretaries end up getting frustrated because aides at the White House wind up telling them what to do," he said.

That was certainly the case for Donna Shalala, HHS secretary under Mr. Clinton, who was on the sidelines during the 1993-94 health-care reform debate. "It obviously didn't work," she said.

So she welcomed that Mr. Daschle will be the White House point on health as well as HHS secretary. "I think they've learned from our mistakes," she said.
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'Czars' Ascend at White House - WSJ.com
 
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