Acting president

Philip Shenon has the goods on George Bush's shady overuse of interim and recess appointments. At this point, though, I think the president is basically stuck with temps whether he wants to be or not. In the earlier days of the administration, the appointments were such an obvious end-run around the Senate approval process that I don't actually believe the administration was even trying to fool anybody.

With only a bit over a year left in his term, though--with his administration's reputation pulverized--it must be nearly impossible for Bush to find anybody good enough for these jobs that he would want to usher them before the Senate, wearing his imprimatur, where they would quite possibly be mauled for their inadequacies by Democrats who now control the Senate.