So What Exactly Is A "Czar"?

I've been hearing this term a lot lately and had no idea what actually meant and how it translated into the everyday workings of Washington.

So, not being one to have a lot of faith in what the media tells me, I decided to do a little a research about American "Czar's" on my own.

Surprisingly (to me, at least) I discovered that this moniker dates back to the Roosevelt Administration, and has never meant anything other than a "person with lots of authority to shape the making of policy." It's a media creation, and has been used by the MSM indiscriminately to refer to individuals in both Republican and Democratic Administrations.

The irony here is that neither the MSM nor politicians use it when it really matters.  Take, for example the case of David Addington, who took it upon himself to coordinate torture policy for the Bush Administration. If there ever was such a thing as a czar, it was Addington, who not only made policy, but derailed the careers of those who tried to oppose his patently unconstitutional actions.

Of course, Congressional Republicans never complained about him... except, of course, to argue that a Justice Department investigation into such unethical behavior represents an infringement of a President's unbridled executive power.

Maybe Republicans should stop worrying about the supposedly vast power of Obama's alleged czars and take a look into their own past Presidents' practices.

George W Bush had no less than 46 czars.  That's right folks... 46. 

Summary table -  

                                                               Number of         Number of
                                                                 appointees       "czar" jobs    
Franklin Roosevelt         1933–1945        12                  19
Harry Truman                  1945–1953          6                    6
Dwight Eisenhower        1953–1961          1                    1
John F. Kennedy            1961-1963            ?                   ?
Lyndon Johnson             1963–1969           3                   3
Richard Nixon                 1969–1974           3                   5
Gerald Ford                    1974–1977           1                   1
Jimmy Carter                  1977–1981           2                   3
Ronald Reagan              1981–1989           1                   1
George H. W. Bush        1989–1993           2                   3
Bill Clinton                       1993–2001           7                 10
George W. Bush             2001–2009        31                 46
Barack Obama               2009–                 32                 35


So this notion that Obama has somehow given vast superpowers to a few individuals not confirmed by the Senate is clearly the product of fevered imaginations of the right-wing brigade with little or no understanding of how their government works.  


The reality is that Presidents -- past and present -- have created "czars" because they know that the Senate has abdicated its responsibility to confirm nominees in an expeditious manner. 

As a result, the President (and his Cabinet) often must rely on White House staff to take on the responsibilities that otherwise would be handled by Senate confirmees. 

Changing the Senate rules would eliminate the problem, creating an incentive for Presidents to use the appointment process in the manner the framers intended.