Posted by Eugene Volokh:
Withdrawn High-Level Nominees:
http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2009_03_08-2009_03_14.shtml#1236743074
The latest withdrawal of a pretty high-level nominee (this time, Chas
Freeman) made me wonder why there seem to be many more such in the
early phase of this Administration than in past Administrations. Some
possible explanations:
1. I'm misremembering, and there were roughly as many in past
Administrations.
2. This Administration is unusually poor at vetting people. (If so,
why?)
3. This Administration's adversaries are unusually good at torpedoing
people. (Doesn't seem quite right, especially given how badly the
Republicans were beaten in the election.)
4. This Administration is unusually willing to cut nominees loose.
(If so, why?)
5. The threshold for disqualifying a nominee has fallen in the last
few decades. (If so, why?)
6. This Administration is unusually willing to propose controversial
nominees. (But many of the nominees have not been defeated because
their policies or personalities were controversial.
I'm sure there must be others. What are your thoughts on this?
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