If At First You Don't Succeed

Net Neutrality nut Susan Crawford, Sugar Coated Breakfast Cereal Czar (Zero to 130 calories per serving without milk)—My mistake, Crawford was the Internet Czar—was shown the door last Monday (resigned) according to  BigGovernment.com.   Crawford promoted what amounts to a nationalization of the internet for the good of all creatures great and small, or maybe just to regulate content and tax everything that moves in keeping with the agenda of Change we can believe in.  But Larry Summers started taking heat from all sides as ill will for the plan spread, and not long after Crawford was pounding the asphalt on Pennsylvania Avenue.  (Don’t fret—she has a cushy job to return to in the White Tower.) 

The money quote comes from the American Spectator which broke the break-up, reporting on the comments of a White House staffer who said, in reference to all the radical Czars orbiting the smartest guy in the room. 

“They haven’t done us any good on any level, and now they are just a bunch of targets on our back that we can’t shake.” 

These no-good czars cost an average of 6 million a year plus tax-dollar foot-print (staff, facilities, post-it notes™).  That’s a  pricey side show just to float trial balloons.   That’s what the czars do.  They are chosen based on their particular fringe issue(s) and disposability—like security personnel on the original Star Trek.  When the White House comes up with some creative way to advance government power they get a Czar to announce it.  More than happy to comply they blog, write, and speak about the benefits of (insert policy here). If it goes south the White House cuts  the Czar loose and act like disinterested bystanders with nothing at stake. 

The result is the ritual waxing of unsightly body hair from the spotty tufted policy back of the White House.  Crawford is simply the latest trial balloon to pop.  With so many people looking on both sides—a welcome change by the way—Czar shelf lives will continue to degrade.  That must make Joe Biden nervous.  He’s really just a Czar and he’s about as useful as an extra toe.   

Joe’s got to know he’s out for 2012.  My bet (depending on whether Obama’s number are so lousy he could be challenged) is that Obama will try to replace him with Hillary.   That would relieve BHO of the most embarrassing Czar of all, and keep the Clintonista’s from kicking Obama in the soft tissue should he prove susceptible. 

In the meantime, Crawford is not the best path to controlling and regulating the internet without using congress.  Watch for new avenues to open up in other departments.