In its piece on the Gregg withdrawal, the Times observes:
But the political fallout is left to the White House, which now has a string of appointees who have stepped aside over vetting problems, unpaid taxes or philosophical differences with Mr. Obama. Since the president took office last month, not a week has passed without the White House responding to a personnel crisis.
Which is true, though I think ultimately unimportant. The article doesn't note that Obama has appointed more executive branch officials more quickly than any prior modern administration. As bothersome as the various Cabinet flameouts are, they aren't reflective of the overall transition project -- you could even argue in some cases that the vetting process worked by weeding out nominees like Richardson and Daschle whose various problems made them unsuitable for their positions. Only two Cabinet-level positions are vacant (HHS and Commerce), and numerous sub-Cabinet positions are being filled now. Looking back in a few months, I think we'll say that the transition period was a success and wonder why we were so worked up about people dropping out of the confirmation process.
-- Tim Fernholz
