Or, Cheney Redux?
President Barack Obama is taking far-reaching steps to centralize decision-making inside the White House, surrounding himself with influential counselors, overseas envoys and policy "czars" that shift power from traditional Cabinet posts. Not even a week has passed since he was sworn in, but already Obama is moving to create perhaps the most powerful staff in modern history – a sort of West Wing on steroids that places no less than a half-dozen of his top initiatives into the hands of advisers outside the Cabinet.
The rationale according to Politico makes a bit of sense: "Some of the Cabinet agencies were created before the most pressing issues of today,” this aide said. "To have people cut through a bureaucracy that doesn’t match the times we’re in is just more effective.” But is the answer to bureaucratic imbalance more bureaucracy? Or is this simply another example of how our notions of limited, divided government are anachronistic in a global, hyperfast world? Even within the Executive Branch, authority continues to contract as the need to react instantly increases. Or does it not matter: power is limited only when abused?
Of course, its probably prudent to first ask, when the reporter uses the term "most powerful staff" how should we understand the meaning of power. Recent books have made clear how the previous Vice President used informal mechanisms to exert influence over the formal process of policy-making. Indeed, it was not the constitutional responsibilities invested in the Vice Presidency that made Cheney 'powerful', but his ability to exploit power informally. So what kind of power will Obama's new czars have?
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