Jamelle Bouie

Taegan Goddard flags a piece in the Philadelphia Inquirer noting that, of President Obama‘s 73 appointments to the federal bench, the vast majority have been women and minorities. To be more precise, nearly half have been women, 25 percent have been African American, 11 percent Asian American, and 10 percent Hispanic. Only 30 percent of […]

Generally speaking, gubernatorial races tend to slip under the radar, and this year isn’t any different. Thirty-seven states are holding gubernatorial races this fall, and with the exception of California and Texas, they’ve mostly gone unremarked on by mainstream outlets. That’s a shame: Not only do governors have a tremendous impact on the policies that […]

One of the strangest things about the current political moment is the fact that conservatives are actually quite amenable to the idea of impeaching President Obama. It’s not clear what “high crimes and misdemeanors” they had in mind, but as of last December, a whopping 35 percent of Republicans supported impeachment, and I wouldn’t be […]

As The Washington Post‘s Shailagh Murray reports, Senate Democrats are grasping for time as they attempt to close out the rest of their agenda. Among many other things, Democrats still need to extend unemployment benefits, pass financial reform, bring Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court, and confirm dozens of pending executive branch nominees. Of course, […]

Ruth Marcus writes today that President Obama‘s decision to install Donald Berwick by recess appointment was “outrageous.” By her lights, a recess appointment is “the last step in cases of egregious delay,” and Obama should have gone through the normal confirmation process before taking this option. Marcus, like others, doesn’t seem to understand that the […]

I think it’s worth responding to Keith Hennessey‘s objection to President Obama‘s recess appointment of Donald Berwick: In the past recess appointments have been used after an actual filibuster. In this case the President is using a recess appointment to avoid the threat of a potential filibuster. Doing so also allows the nominee to avoid […]

The Washington Post’s Dave Eggen reports on a renewed push by campaign-finance reformers to pass the Fair Elections Reform Act, which would expand public financing for congressional campaigns: The Fair Elections Now Act, sponsored in the House by Rep. John B. Larson (D-Conn.) and Rep. Walter B. Jones (R-N.C.) and in the Senate by Richard […]

Howard Fineman wants to know why President Obama is in such a hurry: So far in his presidency Obama has been tackling, even seeking out, sweeping, controversial challenges: the stimulus, the auto bailout, health-care reform, a new arms-control treaty with Russia. He still wants to deal with comprehensive energy and immigration legislation this year. So, […]

Not to spend too much time on confirmations, but it really is stunning to think about how many people the Senate is responsible for confirming. The Washington Post‘s Al Kamen points out that there are still 43 Senate-confirmable jobs open in Cabinet-level agencies (out of a total of 369), and at Foreign Policy, Josh Rogin […]

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell isn’t too happy with President Obama‘s recess appointment of Donald Berwick to oversee Medicare and Medicaid: “As if shoving a trillion dollar government takeover of health care down the throat of a disapproving American public wasn’t enough, apparently the Obama Administration intends to arrogantly circumvent the American people yet again […]