When people complain about the job Obama has been doing as President, one of the arguments that I’ve been hearing from Obama supporters is that it is not Obama’s fault because his hands are tied by department heads who were appointed by the previous administration.
Here’s a breakdown of Executive (Cabinet) Departments heads and their most recent appointments:
Dept. of State – Hillary Rodham Clinton nominated by Obama on 1/20/09
Dept. of Treasury – Timothy Geithner nominated by Obama and assumed office 1/26/09
Dept. of Defense – Leon Edward Panetta assumed office under Obama 7/01/11
Dept. of Justice – Eric Holder assumed office under Obama 2/03/09
Dept. of Interior – Ken Salazar 1/20/09
Dept. of Agriculture – Thomas James Vilsack 1/20/09
Dept. of Commerce – John Bryson 10/21/11
Dept. of Labor – Hilda Lucia Solis 2/24/09
Dept. of Health and Human Services – Kathleen Sebelius Gilligan 4/20/09
Dept. of Housing and Urban Development – Shaun L.S. Donovan 1/26/09
Dept. of Transportation – Raymond H. “Ray” LaHood 1/22/09
Dept. of Energy – Steven Chu 1/21/09
Dept. of Education – Arne Duncan 1/21/09
Dept. of Veterans Affairs – Eric Ken Shinseki 1/21/09
Dept. of Homeland Security – Janet Napolitano 1/21/09
All of these Cabinet Department heads were appointed by Obama himself. Some of them had served under the Bush administration as well, but even so, it was Obama’s decision as to whether to reappoint them again. If they were doing such a bad job under the Bush administration, surely Obama would have sought to replace them with someone who would not hold him back from executing his directions.
So what role do these department heads play in making it so difficult for Obama to do his job?
According to the U.S. Constitution, Article II, section 2, authorizes the President to “require the Opinion, in writing, of the principal Officer in each of the executive Departments, upon any Subject relating to the Duties of their respective Offices.” In brief, they and their organizations are the administrative arms of the President.
Obviously, the President cannot be in all places at one time, nor can she/he personally manage all of these departments, thus the need for delegation to Cabinet members. When it comes to delegation of decision making, the President has virtually unlimited power. But the final authority and responsibility still remains with the President.
There are a plethora of government departments and agencies, including the FDA, the EPA, the Air Force, Amtrak, Fair Housing Administration, the SEC, the Secret Service and the Postal System just to name a few.
Within the depths of this federal system, there are thousands of employees who are hired by their departments. “Could some of those people be holdovers? Sure. Could some of them intentionally try to block the policies of their Department heads, or even the ultimate boss? Without question,” but according to Olivet College Journalism and Mass Communications Professor Gary Smith, “they wouldn’t usually last long … That kind of undermining would never go un-noticed at the department head level.”
The President is not going to micromanage daily operations of these departments, but the responsibility falls on the President. President Harry Truman was right to place a sign on his desk that said, “the buck stops here.”
So, it is pure nonsense for Obama campaigners to claim that Obama has no authority over any department head or that people in federal departments are tying his hands. If placing blame for slow progress is a legitimate political tactic, then a more accurate, and perhaps a more convincing argument might be to place the blame on Congress.