We Can’t Wait: Tea-Publican hostage taking of America is over

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The Obama administration has adopted a theme of "We Can't Wait" for taking aggressive action on the economy by using executive power to do what the administration can to overcome the Tea-Publican strategy of obstruction for purposes of partisan political warfare and their taking America hostage repeatedly to their radical hostage demands.

Not since the American Civil War has this country been held hostage to the demands of an insurrectionist minority bent on nullification of laws enacted by a democratically elected federal government.

On Wednesday, President Obama used his executive power to make recess appointments to appoint four individuals to critical positions, all of whom are non-controversial appointees but whose confirmations have been held hostage to an unprecedented Tea-Publican strategy of obstruction for partisan politcal warfare. President Obama Announces Recess Appointments to Key Administration Posts:

President Obama announced today his intent to recess appoint four individuals to fill key administration posts that have been left vacant.

• Richard Cordray, Director, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
• Sharon Block, Member, National Labor Relations Board
• Terence F. Flynn, Member, National Labor Relations Board
• Richard Griffin, Member, National Labor Relations Board

President Obama said, “The American people deserve to have qualified public servants fighting for them every day – whether it is to enforce new consumer protections or uphold the rights of working Americans.  We can’t wait to act to strengthen the economy and restore security for our middle class and those trying to get in it, and that’s why I am proud to appoint these fine individuals to get to work for the American people.”

Tea-Publicans opposed Richard Cordray because without a Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the creation of Harvard professor Elizabeth Warren, the regulatory powers of the new agency could not go into effect. It was a means to obstruct provisions of the Dodd-Frank financial reforms from taking effect and to nullify the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau approved by democratically elected majorities of both chambers of Congress and signed into law by the president.

Tea-Publicans are doing the bidding of the banksters of Wall Street who destroyed our financial system and economy with their unregulated greed in 2008 and, now that they have been bailed out by taxpayers and are profitable once again, want to go on engaging in the same unregulated greed the same as before.

The NLRB appointments were to keep this labor board functioning with a quorum. Without a quorum, the agency would be unable to carry out its regulatory functions authorized by long-standing federal labor law. Tea-Publicans were holding these appointments hostage to prevent a quorum and thus nullify new regulations recently approved by the NLRB more favorable to union organizing from final adoption and going into effect.

As you might expect, the Tea-Publicans howled and hurled invectives at the president for doing what previous presidents, Republican and Democrat alike, have done in the past, exercising executive power to make recess appointments. Most annoying to me was the chutzpah of the supremely arrogant head hostage taker, the Septegenarian Ninja Turtle Mitch McConnell, calling the president arrogant for refusing to allow America to be held hostage to his hostage demands any longer.

Steve Benen has an excellent analysis at the Political Animal – McConnell’s concern for ‘precedent’:

Here’s a statement issued by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), which I’ve decided to annotate:

“Although the Senate is not in recess [1], President Obama, in an unprecedented move [2], has arrogantly circumvented the American people [3] by ‘recess’ appointing Richard Cordray as director of the new CFPB. This recess appointment represents a sharp departure from a long-standing precedent that has limited the President to recess appointments only when the Senate is in a recess of 10 days or longer [4].” 

This is probably going to be a pretty important dispute, so let’s take McConnell’s arguments one at a time.

[1] The definition of “recess” has become a little more malleable than it probably should be. McConnell would have us believe pro-forma sessions tie the White House’s hands, but there’s evidence that McConnell doesn’t really believe his own argument. His own spokesperson has conceded that these sessions are “purely political” and aren’t to be taken seriously, and just two weeks ago, McConnell himself seemed to suggest recess appointments are possible during Congress’ winter break. Indeed, the Minority Leader may find it interesting that George W. Bush’s own legal team concluded that the Senate cannot use sham pro-forma sessions to prevent the president from exercising a constitutional power. The non-partisan Congressional Research Service produced a report on this in March and reached a similar conclusion.

[2] This one is largely true, but the argument lacks relevant details. Obama’s recess appointment arguably is unprecedented, but that’s not the president’s fault; it’s McConnell’s. After all, it was the Senate Republican minority that, for the first time in American history, said it would not allow a vote on a qualified nominee solely because the minority does not like the existence of the agency the nominee was selected to lead. Obama is breaking with precedent only because Mitch McConnell is breaking with precedent — if Cordray were given a vote, the way the Senate is supposed to function, the recess appointment wouldn’t be necessary. And if McConnell is concerned with “precedent,” he wouldn’t be using a nullification strategy.

[3] The “American people” are not being circumvented. In reality, the American people elected a Democratic majority to the Senate for the three consecutive election cycles; the American people elected the lawmakers who created the CFPB; and the American people elected President Obama to nominate officials to head the various agencies. The American people support the CFPB and reject McConnell’s obstructionist tactics. The only people “arrogantly circumventing” the “American people” are Senate Republicans.

[4] There’s actually ample precedent for presidents making all kinds of recess appointments that would probably bring tears to McConnell’s eyes. In one instance, Teddy Roosevelt once made recess appointments “during an intersession recess of less than one day.”

The media villagers simply report the caterwauling by Tea-Publicans without any context because they know nothing about government and know nothing about American history. And sadly, the American public knows even less (easily confirmed by any segment of Jay Walking on the Jay Leno Show).

Rather than engage in a protracted discussion of process the public doesn't understand, the Obama administration is going to explain to the public what these policies will mean to them. Greg Sargent reports The Richard Cordray rollout begins – The Plum Line:

Mitt Romney is denouncing Obama’s recess appointment of Richard Cordray as top consumer cop as “Chicago style politics at its worst.” Rick Santorum is calling on the Senate to sue to stop the appointment. Republicans in Congress are threatening all sorts of actions to block it. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce may head to court with its own lawyers.

The White House’s response? It has quickly rolled out Cordray to tell the American people what he actually intends to do on behalf of consumers in his new role.

Cordray just delivered a speech at the Brookings Institution, where he detailed his agenda for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The game plan: While Republicans debate process, Cordray is trying to tell the American people what GOP opposition to his appointment would take away from them in the way of consumer protection.

Cordray’s speech at Brookings outlined what the Times calls a “vigorous oversight and enforcement agenda,”putting purveyors of financial products on notice that they will face “real consequences to breaking the law.” He added that his agency would be particularly aggressive in monitoring the types of financial companies that have previously gone mostly unregulated.

“Many subprime loans during the housing bubble were made by nonbank mortgage brokers,” Cordray said. “Since most of these businesses are not used to any federal oversight, our new supervision program may be a challenge for them. But we must establish clear standards of conduct so that all financial providers play by the rules.”

The quick move to roll out Cordray seems designed to reinforce a political dynamic that played in Dems’ favor during the payroll tax cut debate. While Republicans get caught up in an argument about process — i.e., the legitimacy of recess appointments — the White House is advocating for its policies, and telling people how they will be protected by them.

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Congress’s popularity is mired in the single digits, and some polls show that Republicans are bearing the blame for the sort of governmental gridlock that the Cordray appointment circumvented. Meanwhile, the public seems to generally agree with Dems on the substance of the issues involved.

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While bashing the appointment as tyranny or worse may juice up GOP primary voters, it’s hard to see how trying to unravel this new agency will play well among the broader public or do anything good for the GOP brand.