It is dizzying, really. A czar for this, a czar for that. What exactly is a czar?
- A person having great power; an autocrat.
- An appointed official having special powers to regulate or supervise an activity.
I think we can safely say that in addition to teleprompters and cameras, you can add czars to Obama’s fetish list. Help me out folks, I’m trying to gather a list of all of them. These are not fictional, this is a real list. Here’s what I’ve got so far (in alphabetical order):
- Afghanistan Czar TBD
- Car Czar Steven Rattner
- Compensation Czar Kenneth Feinberg
- Copyright Czar TBD
- Cyber Security Czar TBD
- Drug Czar Gil Kerlikowske
- Education Czar Arne Duncan
- Energy and Environment Czar Carol Browner
- Great Lakes Cleanup Czar Cameron Davis
- Guantanamo closure Czar Daniel Frie
- Health Care Czar Nancy-Ann DeParle
- Housing Czar TBD
- Middle East Czar Dennis Ross
- Mortgage Czar TBD
- Pakistan Czar TBD
- Urban Czar Adolfo Carrion, Jr.
- U.S. Border Czar Alan Bersin
- Regulatory Czar Cass R. Sunstein
- Stimulus Accountability Czar Earl Devaney
- Technology Czar Vivek Kundra
- WMD Czar Gary Samore
What is the reason for all of these autocratic leaders? Is it to get around our established rules and system of checks and balances? Is this just an extension of Obama’s love of the Executive Order? Here are a few opinions on the topic: The Daily Beast, Salon, Grand Rants, Reuters, LA Times, Washington Post, Bloomberg.
If you find any mistakes or ommissions, please let me know by commenting so I can update the list.
