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Taking advantage of a Senate recess Wednesday, President Obama bypassed the traditional confirmation process and appointed three nominees to key White House positions. One of them was Dr. Donald Berwick as head of the nation's Medicare and Medicaid programs.Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell was furious. He called Obama's action "arrogant" and an affront to the American public. McConnell was especially livid over Berwick's appointment because he said the professor of pediatrics at Harvard's School of Public Health is "one of the most prominent advocates of rationed health care."
By that comment, McConnell inferred that Berwick might not be siding with the general public on many health care issues.
McConnell had company from the other side of the aisle as well. Sen. Max Baucus, the Montana Democrat, also didn't like the President's maneuvering. But the AFL-CIO defended Obama's move because key points in Medicare for early retirees kick in this summer, meaning somebody had to head the agency quickly.
We don't like the President acting as a King, either. But bear in mind, up to Wednesday, the Senate hadn't even scheduled a confirmation hearing on Berwick, or on the other two appointees.
They are Philip E. Coyle III, as associate director for national security and international affairs in the White House Office of Science and Technology, and Joshua Gotbaum, as director of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. All three will serve through 2011.
We think Obama was wrong in bypassing the Senate and McConnell was wrong in not having his team schedule a hearing in the first place.
Obama took advantage of a loophole, a loophole in politics that many presidents before him also got away with.
What do you think?
