Column by Justin Lamb
I feel that I’ve been spending quite a bit of time lately responding to and correcting falsehoods and misrepresentations about President Barack Obama and his agenda. Today will, unfortunately, be no different. From the tea party protesters at the National Mall, to cable news, and yes even on our own campus, a series of lies and misconceptions as well as outright vitriol has been spreading.
I have heard, personally, from people on campus who believe that President Obama is creating a “secret armyâ€, whose purpose seems unclear to me. As I was told, though, I should open my eyes and realize that it’s happening, or that he already has a secret “SS†in Georgia to silence dissidents. While I believe it takes a very special kind of crazy to actually believe some of this downright stupidity, I do think it’s important to address some of these matters, and let me be clear, I’ll be writing today on the assumption that we’re all intelligent enough to set some of these issues aside without addressing them. If you’d like me to tell you why the President isn’t a Nazi or anything like Adolf Hitler, I’d be happy to do so. So long as the conversation takes place in a padded room where you can’t hurt yourself.
The one issue that I have heard everywhere is that of presidentially- appointed czars. It is also the one issue that I believe is worth my time and effort to address, because I can understand why some people might be led to believe some of the misconceptions of czars. If all you hear is Glenn Beck’s notion of what czars are and what they do, then you may very well believe it. The problem here is, as it is with many of Mr. Beck’s positions, these ideas are simply wrong.
As a bit of research for this article I decided to go straight to the source of a lot of this madness, Fox News. More specifically, I made sure to catch a few episodes of the Glenn Beck show, although I must admit I haven’t been able to make it through an entire episode yet but I have made it past the halfway point a couple times and that should count for something. There is a very clear distrust among some over the term “czarâ€, what it means, and what kind of accountability these czars have. Unfortunately for those who are trying to make these arguments for political or media gain, these issues are ones that exist only in the minds of people like Mr. Beck.
President Obama is not the first to create czar positions or to rely on their advice. The idea of executive branch czars is hardly a new one. The first czar positions were created in the 1940s during the Roosevelt administration and some of which were created at the behest of Congressional Republicans. They were actually created, in part, to help ease the public’s mind about the pressing issues of the day. The term czar was chosen to make the public feel as though there was a strong person at the helm, capable of steering America in the right direction.
It was under the Reagan administration that the Republican Senate created the position of a national “Drug czarâ€. President George W. Bush appointed some 40 individuals to 36 different czar positions. As a point of comparison President Obama has 31 executive appointed czars.
Another often used argument against czars is that they have enormous amounts of power that they may wield completely unchecked and unaccountable to anyone. On its face, this is absurd. These czars are appointed by the President and are, therefore, accountable to the White House; they are not authorized to make a move without the consent and backing of the administration. Let me make it very clear, Czars report to and serve at the pleasure of the President.
To those of you who are also fed up with the lies and hate-mongering being propagated in America today, I as always invite you to come out to a College Democrats’ meeting. We meet every Monday in room 211 of the Student Center.
Justin Lamb is a political science junior. E-mail opinions@kykernel.com.
Mr. Lamb
I am eternally grateful for your superior insight into this complex political issue. My lowly existence in the political realm led me to an obviously misconstrued opinion concerning President Obama and his so-called “czars.” Thanks to your brilliant analysis, I now realize anything I hear on Fox News Channel or any opinions held by Glenn Beck are completely erroneous; if Mr. Beck or the Fox syndicate have a problem with these czars, they must be OK. A thousand thank you’s for forcing yourself to endure fifteen minutes of such filth.
Also, since presidents in the past have had these czars, including my beloved former president George W. Bush, they must be OK as well. Expansion of the executive branch and its authority clearly doesn’t combat the Constitution. Having appointed, unelected officials in the president’s ear has been going on for centuries, so why get upset about it now? After all, we are a nation of men, not laws, and if these czars are accountable to President Obama, they couldn’t possibly desire anything but exactly what is best for the American people.
The problem with the stupid, unwashed masses, among whom I counted myself before reading your enlightening article, is that they aren’t completely on board with President Obama’s vision for saving this country. If the liars and hate-mongerers would just stop lying and hate-mongering, we could all relax, go to next Monday’s College Democrats’ meeting, and wait for this administration to clear up all of the nation’s problems. I can’t wait for your follow-up article on Public Healthcare.
mr floore, do i detect a note of sarcasm in your post????????????????
I am writing in response to an article written by Justin Lamb about President Obama’s czars. I think the claims he made are ridiculous I won’t deny that past presidents including Bush have had czars, and I will be the first to point out that czars not confirmed by the Senate are unconstitutional. This includes conservative presidents as well as liberal ones. However, what makes President Obama’s czars such a major issue is the pace at which he has appointed them (without congress confirmation) as well as the controversies surrounding their past histories, which Lamb conveniently failed to address. Obama has only been in office for eight months and he’s already appointed 32 czars, and the number is steadily increasing. There is speculation about the creation of a cyber czar, health insurance czar, and copyright czar. Furthermore, while Lamb is correct in stating that these czars report directly to the white house he fails to notice that that’s the problem! These czars only report to Obama and so everything they do is unauthorized by Congress. They act to further the agenda of the far left no matter how radical it may be, and that much power does not belong in the White House. By having these czars, democracy in this country is rapidly falling apart as the government continues to grow bigger and bigger, infringing upon the freedoms of the American people. I would also like to point out that these czars are the most radical individuals to have ever been appointed to a position of power in United States history. First you have green jobs czar Van Jones, a self-proclaiming communist, and then you have science czar John Holdren who has written in one of his books about his support for population control and compulsory abortion. Now I agree that there has been a lot of hate-mongering against Obama, but I wouldn’t say that the way Bush was treated when he was in office was sweet. There have been attacks from both sides and everyone should take responsibility for their own actions. Oh, and as far as Glenn Beck goes, I think he has the right to be concerned that people with such radical views are being appointed by the President of the United States in which they don’t have to report to Congress. I also think that Obama has a lot more to deal with than Glenn Beck’s criticism of his czars, he’s far to busy chatting with Jay Leno and David Letterman. Oh and thanks for the invitation but I won’t be stopping by room 211 in the Student Center anytime soon.
Marie Sage
Spanish and Linguistics senior
Marie, you have no idea what “radical views” even are, sweetheart.
Perhaps you should really evaluate what role Karl Rove and Donny Rumsfeld played in the last administration. Until then, please stop being so paranoid.
Our present administration at this moment is gutting the CIA, and will be of no value to the USA in a month are so…
Mr. Obama has a lot of plans for us, just hang on for further
notice on day camps and work schedules for us peons