NEOAVATARA

In an ongoing theme today, President Obama threatened Republicans that he would use recess appointments for several nominees that are being held up by Republican Senators.

“In our meeting I asked the congressional leadership to put a stop to these holds in which nominees for critical jobs are denied a vote for month,” he said. “Surely we can set aside partisanship and do what’s traditionally been done with these nominations.”

“If the Senate does not act, and I made this very clear,” Obama continued, “I will consider making several recess appointments during the upcoming recess because we can’t afford to let politics stand in the way of a well functioning government.”

Funny…Barack Obama wasn’t so pleased with recess appointments a few years ago.  When the Senate held up John Bolton’s nomination to be our representative to the United Nations, Obama was more than happy to criticize it.

“It’s the wrong thing to do. John Bolton is the wrong person for the job,” said Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., a member of Foreign Relations Committee. “The president is entitled to take that action, but I don’t think it will serve American foreign policy well.”

Jim Manley, a spokesman for Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said a recess appointment of this “badly flawed, ill-suited candidate” would be an abuse of power.

Bush counselor Dan Bartlett said the president had not made a final decision on whether to make a recess appointment. “He retains that right to do, but he will continue to work with the Senate as long as he can,” Bartlett said. “But he has not made a decision.”

Earlier Friday, though, White House press secretary Scott McClellan gave the strongest indication yet that Bush planned to make a recess appointment of Bolton, saying the vacancy needs to be filled before the U.N. General Assembly’s annual meeting in mid-September. Former Sen. John Danforth left the post in January. “It’s important that we get our permanent representative in place,” McClellan said. “This is a critical time and it’s important to continue moving forward on comprehensive reform.”

None of this is any surprise.  The party controlling the White House always enjoys executive power, and the party out of power criticizes it.   I just find it humorous, that’s all.

Republicans can’t stop Obama from making recess appointments.  And it is his right as President.   First of all, however, is the fact that he had one year where Democrats could have virtually passed all the appointments he wanted, and still failed.  Second is that this shows Obama’s weakness, much as it showed Bush’s before.  Additionally, the treat of recess appointments does not come without strings attached…the appointments can only be made in one year increments, after which they must be renewed.

In the end, what goes around comes around.  Let Obama make his recess appointments.  That is his executive privilege.  But he should also expect that such appointments, as with the Bush Administration, has repercussions.  It is unlikely that he is going to form new friendships across the aisle by bypassing them all together.