Another Obama Recess Appointment For Someone Not Named Johnsen

[slipslidingaway]

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2010/07/06/another-obama-recess-appointment-for-someone-not-named-johnsen/

"...As I have repeatedly explained and demonstrated with facts and evidence, Barack Obama had 60 votes for confirmation of Dawn Johnsen to head OLC for the entire second half of last year and sat on her nomination, refusing to even call a vote. The fact that Obama flat out refused to even consider a recess nomination for Dawn Johnsen to an office dying for real leadership, and that he will use the recess appointment power anywhere and everywhere else, ought to be proof to any doubters that the sole reason Dawn Johnsen is not leading the OLC is because Barack Obama did not want her there..."

[slipslidingaway]

1. The death of Dawn Johnsen's nomination

http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2010/04/09/johnsen/index.html

"After waiting 14 months for a confirmation vote that never came, Dawn Johnsen withdrew today as President Obama's nominee to head the Office of Legal Counsel. As I documented at length when the nomination was first announced in January, 2009, Johnsen was an absolutely superb pick to head an office that plays as vital a role as any in determining the President's record on civil liberties and adherence to the rule of law. With 59 and then 60 Democratic votes in the Senate all year long (which included the support of GOP Sen. Richard Lugar, though the opposition of Dem. Sen. Ben Nelson and shifting positions from Arlen Specter), it's difficult to understand why the White House -- if it really wanted to -- could not have had Johnsen confirmed (or why she at least wasn't included in the spate of recently announced recess appointments).

I don't know the real story behind what happened here -- I had an email exchange with Johnsen this afternoon but she was only willing to provide me her official, pro forma, wholly uninformative statement -- but here's what I do know: virtually everything that Dawn Johnsen said about executive power, secrecy, the rule of law and accountability for past crimes made her an excellent fit for what Candidate Obama said he would do, but an awful fit for what President Obama has done. To see how true that is, one can see the post I wrote last January detailing and praising her past writings, but all one really has to do is to read the last paragraph of her March, 2008 Slate article -- entitled "Restoring Our Nation's Honor" -- in which she outlines what the next President must do in the wake of Bush lawlessness:


The question how we restore our nation's honor takes on new urgency and promise as we approach the end of this administration. We must resist Bush administration efforts to hide evidence of its wrongdoing through demands for retroactive immunity, assertions of state privilege, and implausible claims that openness will empower terrorists. . . ."

[MilesColtrane]

2. Perhaps the WH found out something about Ms. Johnson after her nomination?

...something that would have made confirmation difficult or impossible?

"the sole reason Dawn Johnsen is not leading the OLC is because Barack Obama did not want her there"

Then why the nomination?

[slipslidingaway]

3. Or because some say we need to look forward ...

we'll never know for sure, but if there was something to dig up one would think the Repubs would have been telling the world.

Maybe she did not file proper tax returns, just did not get all those rules and numbers.

:evilgrin: