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Home Front: Politix
Patronage Feather Merchants flee Pentagon; Trump left with scores of vacancies to fill
2017-02-09
[Wash Times] The Pentagon has been stripped of almost all of its political appointees from the Obama administration, but an uncertain Senate future awaits the candidates whom President Trump will nominate to remake the armed forces in his image.

Of Mr. Obama’s 163 political appointees at election time, who included Senate-confirmed service secretaries, undersecretaries and assistant secretaries, only 16 remain at the Defense Department, according to a Pentagon statement to The Washington Times.

The exodus might be considered normal in the transfer of power: Political appointees are required to turn in their resignations in December.

But Washington’s bitter political climate is far different today from the last transfer of power in 2009. Senate Democrats are resisting Mr. Trump and his agenda via the confirmation process. There is a chance that some of the Defense Department’s 53 appointed positions requiring Senate confirmation will be vacant for a long time.

The vacancies give Mr. Trump an opportunity to select men and women who will provide the leadership, policies and catalyst for his two main priorities: rebuilding the military and defeating the Islamic State terrorist group.
Posted by:Besoeker

#7  Well cockroaches flee when you flip on the light.

Why should these people be any different?
Posted by: CrazyFool   2017-02-09 13:23  

#6  I'm guessing these people were not popular, and left the moment they no longer had a friendly executive and DOJ to watch their back.
Posted by: Iblis   2017-02-09 13:15  

#5  Spring cleaning?
Posted by: Slavirong Lumplump1685   2017-02-09 11:24  

#4  All this goes away if the Senate leadership adjourns for a couple of weeks to permit appoints in recess. The Donks can then have a whole year in dragging their feet for no effect.
Posted by: Procopius2k   2017-02-09 09:03  

#3  Choosing who you will fight based on the number of Facebook posts is insane.

Not if you live on Facebook.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru   2017-02-09 08:09  

#2  The Syrian regime has committed more atrocities than ISIS, but didn't post them on Facebook.

Choosing who you will fight based on the number of Facebook posts is insane.
Posted by: phil_b   2017-02-09 04:57  

#1  ...I'd love to see a list of those vacant positions and see how many of them are utterly, utterly useless.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski   2017-02-09 04:57  

00:00