The Workday Liberal

The President has used his power to make recess appointments in order to install three people into office which had previously been rejected by the Senate.

The Constitution grants the President the power to temporarily appoint members of his administration that would normally require Senatorial approval if the Senate is in recess. The Congress has recessed for the spring break starting from April 2, until April 9. Prior to this recess appointment no President had ever used the recess appointment power for any appointment during a recess of less than 10 days. So we have an unprecedented use of the power by this President.

This is an obvious attempt by the Bush administration to toss the intent of the founding fathers on it's ear. If the President can do this, he would never need to nominate any person for any administration post. He could simply appoint them to office the first chance he got when Congress was not in session, no matter how short the recess.

Furthermore I strenuously object to the notion that the Senate can actually reject a nominee, and then have the President simply appoint the failed nominee. If the Senate rejects that person for the office, they should be ineligable to serve in the office unless renominated, and accpeted, according to any sane reading of the constitution. Otherwise, why did the founding fathers see fit to add the provision in the first place?

I call upon true conservatives to finally stand against this usurpation of power by manifestly disastrous leadership. It is clear that the President purports to act with no regard for constitutional checks and balances. He has already assumed the power to order the torture of human beings, the imprisonment without judicial review of American citizens, and the right to spy upon American citizens without judicial review. The conservative I grew up with would have seen what this man has wrought and argued fervently against him.

In fact the conservatives I call upon are falling rapidly into line. Witness the defection of Matthew Dowd, and there are many others like him. But we need their calls to go beyond the mea culpas to now raise their voices in calling for the impeachment of this man. I believe the recess appointment of people rejected by the Senate when congress is recessed for a week stands against the intent of the founding fathers and is an unconstitutional power grab by President Bush.

The President continuously promotes the idea that his most important duty is to protect the people of the United States of America. I have a fundamental difference of opinion with that point of view. His most important duty, the duty which he swears an oath to carry out when he is inaugurated into office, is to faithfully protect the constitution of the United States of America. The distinction here is important. It is a given that the leadership of any nation is charged with protecting their citizenry. What makes America unique is our form of government, and that has everything to do with the constitution, not with our sense of security. The President may consider it his most important duty to protect the people, but I worry that when all is said and done that the people he protects will be American in name only.

We must stand against this man. His Presidency is a clear and present danger to the fundamental meaning of this nation.