It seems a bit odd that Senate Democrats have agreed to use a rules technicality to prohibit the President from making any recess appointments between now and the election – particularly since Senator Dick Durbin (D, IL) seemed to be suggesting earlier this week that a recess appointment for blocked OMB nominee Jacob Lew would be possible if the hold on his nomination was still active.  None the less, the prohibition is now in effect: and in exchange, the Republicans gave up…

…nothing.

No, really: as near as I can tell, we gave up nothing at all.  All the GOP had to do was threaten to throw some pending nominations back to the White House for resubmission, and the Democrats simply folded like a cheap suit; thus making it impossible for the President to do one of the few things that he can do to mollify his base right now.  This was pretty craven of Reid and his cadre; not that I’m objecting, but I was under the impression that the Democratic party controlled both the legislative and the executive branches of government these days. I mean, I’ll be expecting this gambit maybe next year (or maybe in 2013, or whenever is the next time where the GOP controls Congress but not the White House), but having it happen right now is a bit odd.  Very welcome, but odd.

Moe Lane (Crosspost)

PS: We would have traded something for this, probably.  Being able to stop recess appointments would have been an opportunity worth bargaining for.  So… thanks?