From Grace-Marie Turner at National Review (July 7):

President Obama is making a huge end-run around the American people with his recess appointment of Dr. Donald Berwick.

“This recess appointment is an insult to the American people,” said Sen. John Barrasso (R., Wyo.), a physician and leading Berwick opponent. “Dr. Berwick is a self professed supporter of rationing health care, and he won’t even have to explain his views to the American people in a hearing. Once again, President Obama has made a mockery of his pledge to be accountable and transparent.” Berwick will have authority over an agency with the largest single budget in the entire U.S. government and over implementation of the most sweeping legislative overhaul of our health sector ever — without so much as a congressional hearing!

Berwick will run the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), giving him control of its $800 billion budget during the crucial months when thousands of pages of regulations will be written, determining how Obamacare will be run. The recess appointment lasts through the first session of the next Congress in 2011, after which Berwick will have to be renominated and would likely face even greater opposition, assuming Republicans make expected gains in the Senate.

The reason Berwick’s nomination was so highly controversial: numerous statements he has made professing his love for socialized medicine.

Read the whole article: Obama Appoints His Rationer-in-Chief.