OBAMA TAKES MORE CONTROL, ONE CZAR AT A TIME

In the two and a half months between winning a presidential election and Inauguration Day, the President Elect has a lot of work to do as far as organizing there cabinet. The easy part is selecting the nominees to the various secretary positions. The hard part is convincing congress to confirm them.

Hillary Clinton's confirmation hearing for her Secretary of State nomination

It might seem tedious, but congressional confirmation is vitally important to the President's appointees because it keeps the president from taking total control of the government and negating the separation of powers. It also allows congress to stop the president from appointing somebody that may not be able to perform the job in an effective manor. While President Elect, Barack Obama selected Bill Richardson as his appointee to the Secretary of Commerce position. Following a month of investigation and senate scrutiny, Bill Richardson removed himself from contention after a federal grand jury announced an investigation into Richardson's pay-to-play dealings. A similar situation ensued regarding Obama's original Health and Human Services nominee Tom Daschle after it surfaced that Daschle had skipped out on paying his taxes to the amount of over $140,000. Knowing that congress would never confirm his nomination, Daschle backed out of contention. It's cases like this that prove the importance of congressional confirmation.

But what if the President could appoint people that didn't have to be confirmed and answered to nobody except the President himself? It isn't a far stretch. In fact, this is what Barack Obama is doing right now. By creating a "Czar" for a specific issue, Obama does not have to go through congress, and the Czar is not subject to congressional hearings or accountability. Since the beginning of American history, from Washington to Bush, all presidents combined have appointed 22 Czars in 233 years. There have been so few in history because appointing a Czar is done under special and dire circumstances. This is why the citizens of America should be especially alarmed at the rate in which President Obama has appointed his own army of Czars.

If there have only been 22 Czar's in the history of the United States, would you believe that in his first 5 months, Obama has already appointed 21 Czar's of his own? Not only should you believe it, but you should fear it. These are powerful positions of influence that do not have to be confirmed by anyone, yet answer to Obama alone.

The separation of powers ensures that no one person, or group, can take ultimate power over every other branch of government and this includes the executive branch. While past presidents have used czars for special interest purposes such as President Reagan's Drug Czar, or Clinton's AIDS Czar, Barack Obama is using czars to take complete control over virtually every political issue in the United States.

The question is, "Why?"
Why do we need a Health Czar when we have a Secretary of Health and Human Services?
Why do we need a Housing Czar when we have a Secretary of Housing and Urban Development?
Why do we need an Energy and Environment Czar when we have a Secretary of Energy?

Energy and Environment Czar Carol Browner's Appointment

We don't need these Czars, Obama needs them. He needs them to take more control, and without accountability, he will continue to take over as much as he can. Below is a list of Obama's Czar positions that he has created without contest from the Senate, House, or the American people.

Drug Czar Gil Kerlikowske
Energy and Environment Czar Carol Browner
Homeland Security Czar John Brennan
Health Czar Nancy-Ann DeParle
Urban Affairs Czar Adolfo Carrion, Jr.
Economic Czar Paul A. Volcker
Regulatory Czar Cass R. Sunstein
Technology Czar Vivek Kundra
Government Performance Czar Jeffrey Zients
Border Czar Alan Bersin
WMD Policy Czar Gary Samore
Intelligence Czar Dennis Blair
Car Czar Steven Rattner
Pay Czar Kenneth R. Feinberg
Great Lakes Czar Cameron Davis
Faith-based Czar Joshua DuBois
TARP Czar Herb Allison
Stimulus accountability Czar Earl Devaney
Guantanamo closure Czar Daniel Fried
Housing Czar Shawn Donovan
Cyber Czar (Announced, but unnamed to date)