Barack Obama will begin his second year in office continuing the battle against a severe financial crisis, a deep economic recession and a multifront terrorism war. His personal fight for health care reform, basic to a civilized nation, also rages on. Remarkably, he renews these conflicts in 2010 with our government still woefully understaffed. A substantial percentage of top executive and agency positions remain empty or filled with holdovers.
In a stated attempt to “move beyond the confirmation wars,” Obama began his presidency by seeking bipartisan advice in nominations and expecting timely Senate consent for his historically diverse and exceptionally qualified nominees. Expectations of Senate civility ran too high. Partisan payback proved to be the reality.
