Bloodless Coup

The truly bizarre thing about this is that it looks to me like a very real issue, maybe one fatal to an appointment that has been all the buzz for two weeks now, and yet CNN literally has had no front-page mention of it all day that I've seen. I didn't really need proof that CNN isn't a serious source of information important to our polity, but this strikes me as really odd. And for that matter, the Times isn't really doing anything with it either, and, unlike CNN, they've actually got a reporter who understands the constitution.

For my part, as with constitutional interpretation generally, I'm focused on what they were going after, which is government's equivalent of the golden parachute. If they'll restore Secretary of State to the salary level it was at when Hillary last was elected, I can discern nothing more than hyperformalism to argue against her confirmation.

But my view isn't the point: this is a significant bump in the road for Obama's transition, and may have a formative effect on his administration. It is, in a word, news.

Finally. I'm really fascinated to watch this play out, because I don't see how Obama's crowd missed this, and if they didn't miss it I can only imagine they nominated Hillary anyway because some deal has been struck. But that doesn't necessarily stop someone outside the smoky room in which such a conjectural agreement was hatched from raising a challenge.