SEARCH BLOG: GOVERNMENT and OBAMA
The incomprehensible labyrinth we call the U.S. government has expanded significantly under the administration of President Barack Obama. Just for the fun of it, I attempted to find some sort of organization chart that gives a decent picture of the network that is supposed to be so transparent. I found these interesting views at Netage.com although they really didn't shed much insight except that the organization was impossible to administer. And now "czars" have been added....
What does this mean?
Bloomberg.com had an article back in March, 2009 that addressed the problem head on:
Yet, for some strange reason under the Democratic Party controlled Congress, President Obama has yet to be called out on this un-Constitutional organization. How far are we from becoming another Venezuela?President Barack Obama’s decision to place czars above Cabinet-level agencies presents dangers beyond confusion over who’s in charge and an organizational chart that looks like pasta carbonara.
There’s also the potential for a constitutional crisis.
Obama’s czars, the most ever appointed by an administration, are likely to have the authority to influence or make decisions for Cabinet-level agencies. Yet they aren’t confirmed by Congress and don’t have to respond to pesky requests to testify before oversight committees.
“The rapid and easy accumulation of power by White House staff can threaten the constitutional system of checks and balances,” Senator Robert Byrd, a West Virginia Democrat, warned in a letter to the White House.
Well, that's just not fair focusing on a nut job. What about the rest of them? Here's the list via Free Market Mojo:
- Diversity Czar – Mark Lloyd
- Climate/Energy Czar – Carol Browner
- Drug Czar – Gil Kerlikowske
- Car Czar – Steven Rattner
- Border Czar – Alan Bersin
- Urban Czar – Adolfo Carrion
- Regulatory Czar – Cass Sunstein
- Technology Czar – Aneesh Chopra
- Copyright Czar – Not appointed yet
- Education Czar – Arne Duncan
- WMD Czar – Gary Samore
- Economic Czar – Paul Volcker
- Housing Czar – Noli ‘Kabayan’ de Castro
- Mortgage Czar – Not appointed yet
- Health-care Czar – Nancy-Ann DeParle
- Compensation Czar – Kenneth Feinberg
- Infotech Czar - Vivek Kundra
- Faith-based Czar – Joshua DuBois
- TARP Czar – Herb Allison
- Stimulus Accountability Czar – Earl Devaney
- Terrorism Czar – John Brennan
- Guantanamo Closure Czar - Daniel Fried
- Great Lakes Czar – Cameron Davis
- Intelligence Czar – Adm Dennis Blair
- Green Jobs Czar - Van Jones
- AIDS Czar – Jeffrey Crowley
- Pay Czar – Kenneth Feinberg
Too bad there are no Cabinet members or agencies responsible for those areas.
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