Understaffed President

In the wake of the cowardly and devastating bombing of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, President Bush faces what may be the most crucial crisis ever faced by an American President. Yet nearly eight months into his presidency, he has less than half his appointive personnel in place.

Why? Because an irresponsible Senate has been playing political games with its constitutional responsibility of advise and consent. Majority Leader Tom Daschle and the Democrats prefer to vacillate and waver, looking for political advantage in every news development, day by day, while Republicans are so busy standing for nothing that nothing gets done.

Why must the administration limp along half-staffed because the Senate won't do its job? Why are some 500 top-level administration jobs still unfilled? One thing that became obvious the first day of the attack (experts tell us to expect more) is the fact that our government's intelligence and counterintelligence organizations were caught abysmally flat-footed. Was it that the necessary people to make our intelligence capability function properly had been lost among that un-Fortunate 500? After years of neglect it is unlikely that the addition of the right people could have made a difference that would have saved lives. But wouldn't it be reassuring to know that we had the right folks in place now, working on the necessary restructuring? With Senators, where does patriotism come in?

The recent United Nations World Conference Against Racism held in Durban, South Africa, turned out to be a tirade by Palestinians and Third World opportunists against Israel. It got so bad that our low-level delegation walked out in protest. But the United States was under-represented there. Why? Because our UN Ambassador designate, the eminently capable John C. Negroponte has yet to be confirmed. And why is that? Because the Senate, as it always does, dithered, diddled and dawdled when it should have been doing its job.

Senatorial advise and consent is a constitutional duty, not a privilege.

One would never know it, the way they act.

back to articles index

After referring us to your friends, then visit our other website by clicking below to go to www.citizencongress.org to send your lawmakers your message.