And Now I Pronounce You . . . . Queen For A Day!

Oh if it were only that trivial. Queen for a Day. I used to love that show. Imagine all the gifts, prestige and power even if only for a day. But now it’s better than that. If you’re pronounced CZAR by the Emperor it’s comes with a boatload of power and more importantly, insulation.

SO, WHAT’S A CZAR? Today’s Czars at least in this context are appointed by the President, not elected or approved or vetted in any way by Congress. This is where the insulation comes in.  No pesky old Congressional hearings, sworn testimony, having to answer for past deeds or associations -good or bad, and basically no oversite! Who wouldn’t love a job like that?

Democrat Robert Byrd of West Virginia, one of Congress’ oldest ranking Senators, recently wrote to the President saying

“Enough with the Czars Already.”

And frankly I am surprise there hasn’t been more flak from Congress. After all appointing Czars basically amounts to an end run around the legislative branch and certainly takes authority away from Congress. THESE CZARS HAVE RESULTED IN A RAPID AND EASY ACCUMULATION OF POWER BY THE WHITE HOUSE STAFF and threatens our Constitutional system of checks and balances.

The number of Czars has grown over the last few administrations:

• President Reagan had 1; a Drug Czar
• George H. W. Bush had 1; also a Drug Czar
• Clinton had 3; a Health Czar, a Drug Czar, and an Aids Czar
• George W. Bush had 4; a National Intelligence Czar, a Cybersecurity Czar, an Aids Czar, and a Drug Czar and,
• President Obama at last count had 34!

Are all these posts and positions necessary? Or are these paybacks to friends for campaign help, contributions, influcence, etc. Makes you wonder. All have nice big, fat paychecks, health-care packages, staffs, offices, cars, etc., etc. What recession? Look for more on specific Czars in a future post, but here’s what Obama’s Czardom currently looks like:

1. AIDS Czar, Jeffrey Crowley
2. Afghanistan Czar, Richard Holbrooke Holbrooke
3. Border Czar, Alan Bersin
4. California Water Czar, David J. Hayes
5. Car Czar, Steven Rattner
6. Climate Czar, Todd Stern
7. Copyright Czar, TBA (to be announced)
8. Cyber Czar, TBA
9. Drug Czar, Gil Kerlikowske, former Seattle police chief
10. Economic Czar, Paul A. Volcker
11. Education Czar,  Arne Duncan
12. Energy and Environment Czar, Carol Browner
13. Faith-based Czar, Joshua Dubois
14. Great Lakes Czar, Cameron Davis
15. Green jobs Czar, Anthony “Van” Jones
16. Government Performance Czar, Jeffrey Zients
17. Guantanamo Closure Czar, Danny Fried
18. Health Czar, Nancy-Ann DeParle
19. Homeland Security Czar, John Brennan
20. Information Czar, Vivek Kundra
21. Intelligence Czar (Director of National Intelligence), Dennis Blair
22. Iran Czar, TBA
23. Middle East Peace Czar, George Mitchell
24. Mideast Policy Czar, Dennis Ross
25. Mortgage Czar, TBA
26. Pay Czar, Kennerth R. Feinberg
27. Regulatory Czar, Cass R. Sunstein
28. Science Czar, John Holdren
29. Stimulus Accountability Czar, Earl Devaney
30. Sudan Czar, J. Scott Gration
31. TARP Czar, Herb Allison
32. Technology Czar, Vivek Kundra
33. Terrorism/WMD Policy Czar, Gary Samore
34. Urban Affairs /Housing Czar, Adolfo Carrion, Jr.

That’s it for now!
Aloha, “Mikie”
email:  Mike@MikeSells.com
Now Get Off Your Butts!
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