I’m not going to talk about Obama’s speech to the “Muslim world” ( I guess it isn’t profiling or racism when he puts all Muslims in one group).  First, while parts of it were fairly standard stuff,  parts of it threaten my already questionable sanity.  Second, how many times do we need to discuss Obama specifically and the left in general playing moral equivalency with America and Israel vs. the Muslim world?  Third, it is already being pretty thoroughly covered: Hot Air: Obama’s speech surprisingly good  Michelle Malkin: Rainbows and Unicorns and a world without the j-word  Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion: “Some Say” Obama Is A Shorter  Instead, I am going to talk about the alarming proliferation of Czars in the Obama administration and why it even matters.

     The term Czar originally referred to a sort of powerful European ruler whose family had been aproved by some other powerful ruler or by the church.  The important part is that these rulers were not accountable to those they ruled.  In other words, they were just another form of authoritarian government.  George H.W. Bush appointed the first “Czar” in America, a “drug Czar”.  The drug Czar was given a great deal of authority in running “the war on drugs”.  He was selected by the President and basically acountable only to the President.  This was a horrible idea when George H. W. Bush did it and it has been a horrible idea ever since. 

     President Obama is taking this bad idea and running with it.  He recently appointed a “Great Lakes Czar”, bringing the count to 14.  Can you name any of them?  That is the problem with this new government committee of Czars.  Our government was set up to have three branches.  Each branch had a very specific function and each had ways of checking the power of the other two branches.  The President’s cabinet generally consisted of a group of advisors and people who could assist in lightening the load on the President.  The Obama administration has expanded this to include a rapidly metastisizing  group of barely known Czars with unspecified authority answerable only to him.  The Senate has approved none of these people, no one gets to vote on these people, we don’t even know what they are doing or what powers they are being given.  These people have to be appointed quickly and granted this authority because there is a crisis that can’t be dealt with any other way.  Obama has used every “crisis” thus far as a reason for government expansion in the guise of assistance. (Sarah Palin addresses this here: Hot Air: Palin: Obama’s fiscal policies are designed to control people )  Even his Supreme Court nominee has to be approved quickly so she can be ready to join the court in September, so there is no time to actually review her history, just hurry and approve her.

      Make no mistake,  this is about expanding the power of That One.  He can’t be satisfied with the powers of an ordinary President.  He especially doesn’t want to risk losing some of his power in a year and a half when people like Reid and Pelosi may be voted out.  Why risk your power to the whims of the electorate when you can consolidate your power amongst a small group of Czars (and maybe a couple Justices), loyal and answerable only to you?  Why be a President when you can be a Czar?  Not just any Czar…The Czar of Czars.