For What it's Worth

From the New York Times:

With only 15 months left in office, President Bush has left whole agencies of the executive branch to be run largely by acting or interim appointees — jobs that would normally be filled by people whose nominations would have been reviewed and confirmed by the Senate. In many cases, there is no obvious sign of movement at the White House to find permanent nominees, suggesting that many important jobs will not be filled by Senate-confirmed officials for the remainder of the Bush administration. That would effectively circumvent the Senate’s right to review and approve the appointments. It also means that the jobs are filled by people who do not have the clout to make decisions that comes with a permanent appointment endorsed by the Senate, scholars say.

Emphasis mine. A country run by substitute teachers. I find it all unsettling, but not surprising. You could say this is a do-nothing government, but that would be wishful thinking. It's more a do-whatever-we-want kind of government, and when any item, issue or strategy comes up for review, then the answer is to stall and avoid, eg. run out the clock, as witnessed above, or, worse, review the reviewer.