Almost eight months into the Obama Presidency (Ten months since his election), and a substantial portion of his cabinet is empty.  Almost half of the the President’s appointed positions are vacant.

The majority of reports indicate two major issues are preventing Obama from organizing the government.  The first centers around the number of candidates that simply did not want to be in his cabinet (see NYT article).  The second contributing factor is thought to be a tougher confirmation process than in the past.  How is that possible?  Hasn’ the Senate been populated with a filibuster-proof Democratic majority?  That would seem to say that even Democrats find issue with the people Obama feels should be running various agencies in this country.

So what positions still don’t have an Obama appointee?

• Secretary of the Army
• Director of the Agency for International Development
• Assistant Treasury Secretary
• Inspector General
• Assistant Secretary of State (Nuclear nonproliferation)
• Transportation Security Agency
• Customs and Border Protection
• Drug Enforcement Agency
• Bureau of Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
• Intelligence Chief for the Department of Homeland Security

I believe there is more than meets the eye here.  Certainly several candidates have chosen not to be in Obama’s administration.  I agree that doing anything in Congress is complex and cumbersome, including the confirmation process.  Seriously though, every previous administration had those exact things to deal with.  The real difference: Czars.  The President has chosen to ignore the Constitution, skirt Congressional oversight, and create a cabinet of non-confirmed power-mongers.  This is a serious affront to the checks and balances set forth in the framework that is our Constitution.  Has the President spent too much effort to find leftist Czars instead of working to place respectable and effective leaders at the top of incredibly important segments of of  our Federal Government?

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