Can't Wait for Recess

All for freedom and for pleasure
Nothing ever lasts forever
Everybody wants to rule the world
--Tears for Fears

Yesterday President Obama made several high profile appointments, including a czar of the newly created Consumer Financial Protection Board. Per Article 2, Section 2 of the Constitution, the Senate must confirm these appointments. However, a law has since been written (unsure whether it has been challenged in the courts) that gives the president authority to make unconfirmed appointments during Senate recess. Of course, presidents have been exploiting this loophole for years.

The eyebrow raiser here is that yesterday's recess appointments come in conjuction with increasingly loud presidential rhetoric that Obama is willing to bypass Constitutional process to enact his agenda. Indeed, using a I-can't-wait-for-them tone, the president rationalized his appointments yesterday, stating, "When Congress refuses to act and as a result hurts our economy and puts people at risk, then I have an obligation as president to do what I can for them."

As I am currently engrossed in a few books discussing the Great Depression and the New Deal, the president's rhetoric and actions have a deja vu feel to them, harkening back to FDR's eagerness to circumvent the Constitution whenever necessary.

We're still paying for those interventions today.