Can Obama Stop The Stalling On Clinton Appointees. Or: “It’s Raining Progressives, Hallelujah!”

[Commentary] As we end 2016, we have an unusually large number of vacancies in both the executive branch and the judiciary. As anyone not living under a rock knows, that’s no accident. Getting President Barack Obama appointments approved by the Senate was always a hard slog, and became virtually impossible after the Republicans took over the Senate in 2015. This doesn’t merely impact the waning days of the Obama Administration. If Hillary Clinton wins the White House, it means that the Administration will start with a large number of important holes. Even if the Democrats also retake the Senate, it will take months to bring the Executive branch up to functioning, never mind the judiciary. If Clinton wins and Republicans keep the Senate, we are looking at continuing gridlock and dysfunction until at least 2018 and possibly beyond.