Obamas czars

[Tweedling]

Anyone out there keeping count? This guy sure is making history.

Do any of you have a personal favorite?

[bjorn_skurj]

Alexander III, or the guy who said back in the 1970s that we may have to regulate the amount of babies people can have.

[Party @ the Moontower]

WTF Obama??? Why fight for health care & then fuck up our food supply even more! I support Obama but this is bullshit!

 

Now, the Obama Administration is putting two notorious biotech bullies in charge of food safety! Former Monsanto lobbyist Michael Taylor has been appointed as a senior advisor to the Food and Drug Administration Commissioner on food safety. And, rBGH-using dairy farmer and Pennsylvania Agriculture Secretary Dennis Wolff is rumored to be President Obama's choice for Under-Secretary of Agriculture for Food Safety. Wolfe spearheaded anti-consumer legislation in Pennsylvania that would have taken away the rights of consumers to know whether their milk and dairy products were contaminated with Monsanto's (now Eli Lilly's) genetically engineered Bovine Growth Hormone (rBGH).

 

 

[bjorn_skurj]

And Peter the Great is, well, great. Knows how to get things done.

[John Smith]

Generally I like the classics, my favorite is still the original Czar...Ceasar. Anyhow you would thing the whole "Czar" issue is brand spankin new and had never occurred before 1/20/09. My personal opinion on this is that the term Czar is overblown.

 

 

Czars in America!

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

 

 

By Jean Hayworth

 

The Obama administration has just appointed another Czar – Kenneth Feinberg, as the Compensation Czar. Feinberg took care of the disbursement of funds to 9/11 victims by personally reviewing each claim and then allocating funds totaling more than seven billion. In the new position, Feinberg is directed to ensure that companies receiving federal bailout funds are abiding by executive pay guidelines.

 

The Czar position did not originate in the government but has become popularized by the press. For instance, the “U.S. Coordinator for the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction” has been dubbed by the press as the WMD Czar. This was a position recommended by the 9/11 Commission as an interagency coordinator that would conduct oversight. The man selected is Gary Samore.

The Czar position can be a “hatchet person” who has to make some unpleasant decisions that others have been unwilling or unable to make, which makes them irrelevant. The question is, why pay both positions?

In addition, a Czar has cross-functional power and authority by gathering information from several departments and agencies and then recommend actions to be taken and in most cases, answers only to the President.

Of course, this is not a new concept. President Nixon was the first with an Energy Czar back when the country had that other oil crisis in 1974.

Something that began as the Office of Energy Policy evolved into the Department of Energy. William Simon and later John Love held that position.

 

 

Everyone can see how well that worked out over the last 35 years and now our taxes are paying for a Secretary of Energy and an Energy Czar, Carol Browner, who ran the EPA during the Clinton administration.

I would say that the Secretary of Energy is now irrelevant and that department could be slashed, saving the taxpayer millions of dollars.

Next came the Reagan administration, in 1982, and the appointment of a Drug Czar, recommended by Joe Biden, who is given credit for coining the title, Drug Czar. The Clinton and Bush II administrations both continued the Drug Czar position. The Obama appointee for that position is Gil Kerlikowske.

Clinton also appointed an AIDS Czar during his presidency.

Bush II continued with a Drug Czar and then added a Cybersecurity Czar in 2001, a Regulatory Czar in 2003 along with another AIDS Czar. Bush also added a Faith-based Czar.

In 2004, Bush appointed a Manufacturing Czar. Then in 2005, Bush added a Katrina Czar, a Bird Flu Czar, an Intelligence Czar, a Copyright Czar and finally a War Czar in 2007.

Also, with the disbursement of the TARP funds, Bush appointed a TARP Czar.

Twelve Czars without a word or a flap. Amazing how that was overlooked.

In addition to filling most of the twelve that were already functioning from the Bush administration, the Obama administration added or renamed another eight to handle specific problems that have arisen.

Remember, the economy is in the toilet and we have this war in Iraq and now the re-emergence of conflict in Afghanistan. North Korea has raised its ugly head and Pakistan is on a precipice.

In a democracy, government is “of the people, by the people and for the people.”

Our government is supposed to work for the general welfare of all the people. Not exactly a concept remembered by greedy Wall Street functionaries, Washington lobbyist or congressmen who are too concerned with getting re-elected then serving the people who put them there.

Spending certainly was not curtailed during the last eight years, debt doubled, and borrowing was out of control and now we have become a debtor nation, owing billions to China, Japan and a host of other countries.

Case in point: For the past 20 years, the Wall Street Casino indulged in monetary operations without regard to sound financial reasoning and were carried out by the greedy traders, corporate executives and lobbyists with outrageous amounts of money flung around in all directions.

Oversight by our elected representatives and senators was non-existent while everyone looked the other way and did not function. Maybe they are irrelevant and need to be replaced.

We may not like the title of Czar, so think of it as a special assistant to the president, because that is what they really are and every president has had them for special responsibilities as the need required.

The current special assistants to the president (Czars) include:

*Border Czar - Alan Bersin

*Energy Czar - Carol Browner

Urban Czar - Adolfo Carrion Jr., directed to deal with issues effecting cities

*Cybersecurity and Information Czar - Vivek Kundra, who is teamed up with Aneesh Chopra and Jeffrey Zients; the trio is tasked with setting technology policy across the government and using technology to improve security, lower costs and streamlining government operations.

Health Reform Czar - Nancy Ann DeParle

*Drug Czar - Gil Kerlikowske

Non-Proliferation Czar - Gary Samore

Terrorism Czar - John Brennan

Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs Czar - Cass Sunstan

Guantanamo Closure Czar - Daniel Fried

Defacto Car Czar - Steve Rattner

*Intelligence Czar - Dennis Blair

Iran Czar - Dennis Ross, improve U.S.-Iranian relations.

*AIDS Czar - Jeff Crowley

Economic Czar - Paul Volcker

Chief Performance Czar - Nancy Killefer, directed to make government programs more efficient.

*TARP Czar - Herb Allison

New Stimulus Accountability Czar - Earl Devaney

*Faith-based Czar - Joshua Dubois (created by Bush), the group is generating policy recommendations on domestic poverty, responsible fatherhood, reducing the need for abortions and preventing unintended pregnancy.

Putting all of that in the proper perspective, what is the projected outcome from the special assistants to the president? It may be that stream-ling government operations may occur saving the taxpayer money.

Maybe some good ideas will be formulated by the “Czars.”

Think of them as someone who has been directed to look at a problem from several directions and come up with a recommended solution or action.

[Tweedling]

I'm sure Nixon and Bush would be flattered by the comparisons.

I feel the rate at which he is appointing the "assistants" is a little alarming.

Hell, I think he added some since June 16th!!!!