Good News: Less Than Half of Obama Appointees in Place

Just imagine the damage he may have done already if he actually had a full staff in place.

As President Obama tries to turn around a summer of setbacks, he finds himself still playing without most of his own team. Seven months into his presidency, fewer than half of his top appointees are in place advancing his agenda.

Of more than 500 senior policymaking positions requiring Senate confirmation, just 43 percent have been filled so far — a reflection of a White House that grew more cautious after several nominations blew up last spring, a Senate that is intensively investigating nominees and a legislative agenda that has consumed both.

The sluggish pace has kept Mr. Obama from having his own people enacting programs central to his mission. He is trying to fix the financial markets but does not have an assistant treasury secretary for financial markets. He is spending more money on transportation than anyone since Dwight D. Eisenhower but does not have his own inspector general watching how the dollars are used. He is fighting two wars but does not have an Army secretary.

He sent Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to Africa to talk about international development but does not have anyone running the Agency for International Development. He has invited major powers to a summit on nuclear nonproliferation but does not have an assistant secretary of state for nonproliferation. He has vowed to improve government efficiency but does not have the chief performance officer he promised.

“If you’re running G.M. without half your senior executives in place, are you worried? I’d say your stockholders would be going nuts,” said Terry Sullivan, a professor at the University of North Carolina and executive director of the White House Transition Project, which tracks appointments. “The notion of the American will — it’s not being thwarted, but it’s slow to come to fruition.”

Ah, it's probably just easier to have a bunch of czars who don't need approval.

Lame Photo Op of the Day: Hillary Visits a Gas Station Accompanied by Six Gas-Guzzling, Taxpayer-Funded Suburbans

Wow, is this ever cheesy.

Naturally, AP dutifully laps it up as if they've writing a press release for Mrs. Clinton, who probably hasn't set foot at a gas station in 25 years.

Hillary Rodham Clinton, a former first lady who hasn't driven a car or pumped gas in many years because of Secret Service restrictions, joined a blue-collar worker at a filling station Wednesday to illustrate how the high price of gasoline is squeezing consumers.

The Democratic presidential candidate and sheet metal worker Jason Wilfing, 33, pulled into the station in a large white Ford 250 pickup truck, Clinton riding shotgun. Never mind that it wasn't even Wilfing's truck — he had borrowed his boss's larger vehicle to accommodate Clinton's security agent and personal assistant, who rode in the back.

Trailing Wilfing and Clinton was a Secret Service motorcade consisting of six gas-guzzling Suburbans, two squad cars and a green SUV bearing photographers and TV cameras. Several other reporters and cameramen stood shivering in unseasonably cold temperatures, ready to capture the multi-vehicle arrival.

No mention was made of the fact the price of gas has doubled since Democrats have controlled the House and Senate.

The tank filled, Clinton looked at the price recorded at the pump and shook her head.

"Sixty-three dollars," she said. "For just about half a tank."

Shutters clicked, cameras whirred. Point made.

What point? That she travels around with six gas-guzzling Suburbans at taxpayer expense? That despite it being April 30 reporters were shivering?

That the AP reporter is a willing dupe for a lame photo-op?

Democrats: The Party of Racism

You just know the opinions of Bruce Bartlett will cause a firestorm with the Democrats.

Because it's all too true.

Racial gaffes by Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential campaign, the meteoric rise of Sen. Barack Obama and the pivotal role of the South Carolina primary on Saturday have intensified the issue of race in the Democratic Party, which makes Bruce Bartlett seem like a prophet of sorts.

In his new book, "Wrong on Race: The Democratic Party's Buried Past," Mr. Bartlett chronicles the party's history from slavery to the civil rights era and beyond, providing a look at such figures as South Carolina's "Pitchfork Ben" Tillman and other racist Democrats.

"At least on a historical level, the Democratic Party has always been the party of racism," Mr. Bartlett said in a telephone interview with The Washington Times.

A former Reagan administration official whose previous book "Impostor" criticized President Bush for straying from conservative policies, Mr. Bartlett said the purpose of his latest book is to challenge Democrats' "party of inclusion" mantra and to encourage black voters to dutifully consider the merits of both major parties.

"One purpose of the book was to give Republicans a kind of story to tell, if they decide to go into the black community and talk to black leaders," he said. "I think at an abstract level there are a lot of blacks who recognize that being almost totally part of one political party and not being involved with the other is not good for them."

Democrats long ago began taking the black vote for granted, and the GOP would be much healthier if they genuinely sought the black vote without having to quiver and quake about being called racist.

In fact, the GOP has been the one party that has promoted and supported the African-American community in deeds, not words.

Just look at the cabinet makeup of the past two presidents if you need a guide.

The rise of Mr. Obama as a challenger to Mrs. Clinton indicates the urgency for Republicans to establish their appeal to black voters.

"If [Republicans] start to talk now about the Democratic Party's racist past, then they'll help prepare themselves for dealing with the possibility of running against a black candidate and being able to frame some of their criticism of him, that they undoubtedly will have, in terms that will not be viewed as potentially racist," he said. "It's going to be a difficult balancing act."

Indeed it will be, if it comes to that.

Of course, the GOP won't have just the Democrat machine to fight this battle against.

You can be sure the overwhelming majority of the media will be whipping out the race card every chance they get while conveniently ignoring the dark past and often odious current history of the Democrats. Instead of running to a racial arsonist like Al Sharpton every time there's a racial controversy, how about seeking out a fresh voice like Michael Steele or a genuine national treasure like Thomas Sowell, a man who knows what real racism is all about?

Senator Robert "Sheets" Byrd (D-WV) was unavailable for comment.