GAO Gaps

The New York Times' editorial calling for the appointment of a permanent head of the Government Accountability Office is a reminder that even if appointees aren't going the presidential-pick-Senate-confirmation route, getting them into office can still be torturous:

By law, a bipartisan commission of House and Senate leaders is supposed to submit candidates for the job to the president, a lengthy process in the best of times. These are not the best times.

Recently, Democratic Congressional leaders sent President Obama a list of four candidates to run the G.A.O. Two days later, Republican leaders sent a letter supporting three of the four choices, apparently rejecting one and adding one of their own -- and charging that Democrats had cut them out of the loop.

I wish, and will always wish, there was a way to convince folks that the basic functionality of agencies is not a partisan issue. But of course everything is political.