Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
Washington journalists and analysts like to pontificate regularly that the president of the United States is the commander in chief of the Armed Forces.
The really informed correspondents will shorten up the title to CINC.
At the same time, the media will pretend the president has no control over any other department in the executive branch of government.
President Obama worked hard to help reporters in furthering this fantasy by regularly stating, “I learned about that on the news this morning.”
The president of the United States is the chief executive of the government of the United States. He appoints all cabinet secretaries, including the attorney general. He also appoints the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, who works for the attorney general who works for the president of the United States.
Additionally he appoints the director of the Central Intelligence Agency, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency and any number of federal prosecutors.
These political appointees serve at the pleasure of the president and can be removed for any reason he sees fit.
Journalists would have you believe all of these appointees are independent and you will see headlines asking “Can Such and Such Agency Director Remain Independent and Stand Up to the President?”
The answer to all these questions is a resounding, “No.”
When a political appointee does something to merit the displeasure of the president, they would be well advised to have a current resume available.
News people are even worse when it comes to covering politics overseas. They will cover what purports to be an election where the moderate candidate, speaking in the country’s parliament, will state that dissidents against the regime should be publicly hanged. This moderate will be running against a “hard liner.” Four or five paragraphs into the story will come the caveat that, “of course the real power in the country resides in the unelected “supreme leader.”
My whole point in this is to state emphatically that any person with the title supreme leader, or commander in chief or chief executive or president will, in most cases, have some say so in how their organization functions.
Journalism schools should be required to instruct their students about the importance of titles, the chain of command and how to read organization charts.
A lecture on the above could have caused reporters to inquire into the approval process when a secretary of state repeats endlessly that she had approval to use a private computer server for official business and to house it in her bathroom.
In our system of government, the secretary of state works directly for the president.
Rube Render is the Curry County Republican chairman. Contact him at: