Fired, shmired -- isn't it time we started having "the appropriate person" KILLED?

New State Dept. spokesperson Jen Psaki -- joking on the job?

by Ken

On the theory that at times like this the White House will embrace good, or good-ish, news wherever it can find it, Al Kamen titles today's WaPo "In the Loop" column "What's going right for Obama," and what's going right turns out to be that so far among his second-term cabinet appointments, not a one has had to withdraw. By contrast, going into the first term we saw withdrawals by commerce nominees Bill Richardson and Judd Gregg and HHS nominee Tom Daschle. Al notes:

Even though Obama's most recent nominees -- Tom Perez for labor secretary, Penny Pritzker for commerce secretary -- may face a tough go of it in the Senate, so far the president is ahead of his first-term effort.

As we know, the Obama administration has been the first to operate fully under the new rules for what used to be executive appointments, but are now made in the event of a Democratic administration, that is, by the Senate Republicans (whether majority or minority) from names suggested by the president. More generally, all executive-branch appointees serve at the pleasure of the House and Senate Republicans, again whether in majority or minority.

The system as it has initially been put in place gives essentially any Senate Republican to tell any job candidate proposed by the president to go f**k him/herself, and he/she has to do it. The question, though, is why the Republicans' dispatch power should be so limited. Shouldn't they have the power to decree that any such prospective jobholder be told to rot in hell and he/she has to do it.

Which may explain why some of the attendees at new State Dept. spokesperson Jen Psaki's first official briefing yesterday were a little slow on the uptake. Here's Al's account.

Best we can tell, while [Psaki] seemed maybe a bit nervous, she did a fine job. She also learned a very important lesson: State Department reporters at the briefings can at times be a bit humor-deprived. You have to help them.

Take, for example, this exchange with a reporter who complained that he had raised a question last week "and I'm still waiting for an answer." It was a request for State's account of a meeting officials had last week with a group of South Asian human rights activists.

"Your side of the story, please?" the reporter asked.

"Yes, I apologize," she said. "I don't have anything new for you on that today. I will -- I'm happy to check on it. And we'll make sure the appropriate person is fired."

There was a moment of confused silence.

"Just kidding," Psaki said.

Some reporters started to laugh.

"That's a joke," she explained.

More laughter.

Note to Psaki: No kidding from the podium.

Of course this involves extends the principle that executive branch employees serve at the pleasure of Republican demagogues to the infotainment noozemedia, but that seems fair, no? The only thing is having these people fired just may not be good enough going forward. Killed is what's called for, I think.

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