The Loud Talker

It is dizzying, really. A czar for this, a czar for that. What exactly is a czar?

1. A person having great power; an autocrat.
2. 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):

1. Afghanistan Czar TBD
2. Car Czar Steven Rattner
3. Compensation Czar Kenneth Feinberg
4. Copyright Czar TBD
5. Cyber Security Czar TBD
6. Drug Czar Gil Kerlikowske
7. Education Czar Arne Duncan
8. Energy and Environment Czar Carol Browner
9. Great Lakes Cleanup Czar Cameron Davis
10. Guantanamo closure Czar Daniel Frie
11. Health Care Czar Nancy-Ann DeParle
12. Housing Czar TBD
13. Middle East Czar Dennis Ross
14. Mortgage Czar TBD
15. Pakistan Czar TBD
16. Urban Czar Adolfo Carrion, Jr.
17. U.S. Border Czar Alan Bersin
18. Regulatory Czar Cass R. Sunstein
19. Stimulus Accountability Czar Earl Devaney
20. Technology Czar Vivek Kundra
21. 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.