Senate Confirms 27 Presidential Nominees

The Senate has now confirmed 27 of President Obama's nominees (see previous post about holds). Link to NYTimes article in title.

The White House issued a statement by the President in which he reiterated the need for changes in how Washington works. Acknowledging the holds on the nominations by various senators, the statement read, "many holds were motivated by a desire to leverage projects for a Senator’s state or simply to frustrate progress. It is precisely these kinds of tactics that enrage the American people." I'm not sure the holds enraged the American people so much as drew attention to the ridiculousness of the motivation for the holds, but it's good to see the President following up on what he said in the State of the Union speech.

The statement also demonstrates the power of the President over the Senate; he can make or threaten to make recess appointments, thus bypassing the Senate in the nomination/confirmation process. Regarding the remaining waiting nominees, President Obama said that if senators "do not act, I reserve the right to use my recess appointment authority in the future." This seems like a perfectly reasonable use of presidential power–how else is the President going to get things to actually happen in the Senate? The statement makes it seem like there won't be any recess appointments this time around...does that mean that the President is trying to demonstrate that he doesn't want to take too much power away from the Senate?