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http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/when-you-wish-upon-czar
When you wish upon a czar
10/06/14 08:00 AM
By Steve Benen
For the better part of six years, President Obamas Republican critics have condemned the very idea using federal czars to address specific policy challenges. The criticisms have never really made any sense the Bush/Cheney administration relied far more heavily on czars than Obama but its nevertheless been one of the rights more common condemnations of the White House.
That is, until this weekend, when some Republicans decided czars arent so bad after all.
Late Friday, for example, Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) demanded the Obama administration have a single individual in charge of coordinating Americas Ebola response. Burr didnt use the word czar, but thats exactly what he was describing. Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.) was even more explicit in an interview with the conservative Washington Examiner.
The congressman said the United States needs a George Mitchell type character to lead one central office thats a clearinghouse to unify the efforts of government entities like the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention . The congressman said he thought the scientists involved were doing well, but you need a command and control general, a strategic guy.
The irony is truly extraordinary. It was none other than Jack Kingston who was so disgusted with the very idea of the executive branch utilizing czars that he introduced federal legislation in 2009 to cut off funding for these officials altogether. The bill didnt go anywhere in the Democratic-led chamber, but it picked up over 100 Republican co-sponsors.
And yet, here we are. Faced with Ebola fears, the exact same far-right lawmaker who championed an anti-czar push is now calling for a new czar.
The Georgia Republicans dramatic change of heart notwithstanding, there are two basic angles to consider here.
The first is a question as to whether a czar is actually needed. The White House, at least as of Saturday, said existing officials working within the relevant agencies are already tackling the matter effectively, so creating a new, single point person to oversee coordination of the U.S. response is unnecessary.
This position may change, of course, if conditions warrant a shift in posture, but for now, there doesnt appear to be a new czar on the way.
I should add, of course, the nations Surgeon General could presumably play a valuable role in the U.S. response, but right now, there is no Surgeon General the White Houses nominee believes gun violence is a public-health issue, so the National Rifle Association wont let the Senate confirm him.
But the other angle is the trajectory of this amazing conversation. It wasnt too long ago that congressional Republicans quite literally referenced Obamas use of czars as grounds for presidential impeachment. Now we see GOP lawmakers demanding to know why the White House isnt using a czar in response to Ebola.
In other words, the old Republican line is that Obama was making a horrible mistake using so many czars. The new Republican line is that Obama is making a horrible mistake by not using enough czars.
The incoherence doesnt come as too big a surprise. George W. Bush had 36 czar positions filled by 46 people during his eight years as president and no one found this the least bit controversial. As long-time readers may recall, I wrote a piece in 2007 on this, noting that the Bush/Cheney team would respond to almost every problem by creating a new czar in the wake of highly publicized E. coli outbreaks, the Republican White House created a food-safety czar. When the administrations response to Hurricane Katrina drew national outrage, a Katrina czar was introduced. Bush appointed a bird-flu czar, a manufacturing czar, an AIDS czar, and many, many more.
But when Obama followed a similar course naming a point person to oversee the rescue of the American auto industry, for example Republicans who said literally nothing about Bushs related habit looked for the fainting couch. Five years ago last month, Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-La.) called the practice an affront to the Constitution but only when Obama does it.
And now weve come full circle, to the point that congressional Republicans who saw czars as a genuine political scandal now want a new one, and its the Obama White House thats content to go without. It would have been hard to predict this at the height of the GOPs whining in 2009.
Spazito
(50,453 posts)in their stupidity they actually think people don't remember what they said before, that works for their base but few others.
BillZBubb
(10,650 posts)They are for the most part correct. Many on the left continually believe the voters are aware enough to recall the right wing hypocrisy that constantly occurs. Those on the left are deluding themselves.
The right wing base and most self-described moderates/independents either don't remember or don't care. If this weren't the case, republicans couldn't get elected as a dog catcher.
Spazito
(50,453 posts)another 10% will vote for them regardless because they are single issue voters, either God, guns or gays, imo.
It isn't that their voters don't always know they are gross hypocrites, they vote for them in spite of or because of it, again imo.