Upon further review, the total number of recess appointments was 6 last night - 4 ambassadors to countries like Syria and Azerbaijan, the deputy Attorney General, and the head of the government printing office. I'll leave it to others (TM7 perhaps?) to illustrate what that portends for us all, but while each is a minor post, all together its got my eyebrows raised. To be fair, Bush Jr. has the standing record for recess appointments, at 171. It might have been higher had not Harry Reid done some "preemptive" work. However, at his current pace, Obama has already passed Bush at the 2 year mark with 34 (I believe) and will most likely gather steam with the new congress as they will most likely not be cooperative with his future appointments and he'll just wait for recess ... unless they learn from Reid and return the favor. This is what happens when you use regulation instead of legislation (as has been noted on this thread) ... you sidestep the constitutionally created check and balance system of congressional oversight on executive appointments. The office of the President is now stronger than the King was in the time of our first war for independence. We have become the sum of all our concessions to pragmatism.
