Life imitates Art: Obama’s Bartlet move

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There’s an episode of The West Wing where President Bartlet appoints a sitting FEC commissioner to the post of U.S. ambassador to Bulgaria in order to open a seat on the commission. This allows Bartlet to name an anti-soft money candidate to the FEC, giving the campaign finance reformers a majority.

Now, word on the blog is that President Obama is toying with the idea of naming New Hampshire Senator Judd Gregg, a Republican,  as his commerce secretary. The move would effectively give the Democrats a 60-seat, filibuster-proof majority (assuming Al Franken will be seated) when the state’s Democratic governor names Gregg’s replacement.

A bold move, but will it stick? And what’s with a Republican getting a major cabinet appointment? Well, as Kos points out via FiveThirtyEight, Gregg has voted with Obama on six of seven important pieces of legislation since Obama took the oath.

If this pan out, Obama really will be a Sorkin president.