re: #366 commadore183

Recess appointments are constitutionally provided for mechanism to fill positions in government. The numbers cited in your comment alone don’t tell the whole story though.

One of the reasons that Obama’s number of appointments are so low is that the GOP has purposefully engaged in parliamentary action to remain in session (even if it’s only to gavel in and out of session) to prevent the President from using the recess appointment power in the first place. Democrats had tried to do something similar during some of Bush’s second term, but aren’t nearly as debased as the GOP attempts, which is why President Obama announced the recess appointments in claiming that the Congress wasn’t in actual session but engaging in a sham. Since Congress wasn’t actually conducting business, it wasn’t in session even though the GOP leadership was gaveling in and out daily.