Republicans (and Sen. Max Baucus) are in a tizzy because President Obama is using a recess appointment to put Donald Berwick, his choice to administer the Medicare and Medicaid systems as they implement the new health-care law.
Here's the thing: As Jamelle points out, this is a broken system, and a newly broken one at that. There are nearly 200 unconfirmed nominees, thanks largely to Republican filibusters. The Senate does have the responsibility to confirm certain executive-branch nominees, but if they can't bring themselves to fulfill their role, then the president has the responsibility to appoint them anyway during a recess. If they don't like it, they can start allowing up-or-down votes on nominees instead of using procedural stalls to extort pork for their home states.
Don't even get me started on his controversial remarks about "rationing" health care. I'm not sure what's more absurd: The idea that we don't already ration health care in this country or the idea that we shouldn't think critically about how we do it.
-- Tim Fernholz
