I Thought Hats Went Out With Kennedy*
The AP’s Steve Holland says that President Obama is a man of many hats:
From reluctant CEO to chief U.S. medical adviser, President Barack Obama showed how many hats he wears at a news conference marking his 100th day in office on Wednesday.
Shrugging off critics who say he has taken on too many tasks in his young presidency, Obama said all the issues had landed in his lap at the same time and had to be dealt with simultaneously
Then the predictable litany — auto CEO, banking chief, de facto surgeon general, etc. What’s missing, of course, is any discussion over why this much power has accumulated in one man, and whether that’s a wise thing.
Oh, we had this discussion in the media lots when Bush was President, and with good reason, too. But just because a Democrat is in the White House doesn’t make executive overreach cute again.
*RIM SHOT: Hey, who didn’t go out with Kennedy, am I right?
http://wheniwasoneandtwenty.blogspot.com/2009/04/on-hats.html
“What’s missing, of course, is any discussion over why this much power has accumulated in one man, and whether that’s a wise thing.”
We pretty much knew that any such discussion would be saved for tenured* historians when he annexed the census bureau and fired the head of GM with barely a hint of media skepticism.
*I say tenured, because they’ll be the only ones allowed to be remotely frank on the issue. Those without tenure or really lucrative book deals will have to push the accepted conclusion that “of course THIS man should have that much power.”