The White House is apparently very sensitive about the subject of all these czars who are running around exercising the will of the president without any congressional approval or oversight.

This bothered liberal senator Russ Feingold who decided to hold a hearing on just what it is these czars are supposed to do. The most honest and transparent administration in American history then stiffed the senator by not sending anyone from the White House to testify.

Via Jen Rubin at Commenatary , Senator Feingold was not amused:

The White House decided not to accept my invitation to send a witness to this hearing to explain its position on the constitutional issues we will address today. That's unfortunate. It's also a bit ironic since one of the concerns that has been raised about these officials is that they will thwart congressional oversight of the Executive Branch.

But that's par for the course. No ACORN investigation. The Obami don't have to. No cooperation with the U.S. Civil Rights Commission on its investigation of the dismissal of the New Black Panther case. Who's going to make them? Allow Gen. Stanley McChrystal to testify, as his predecessors did, before Congress? Not a chance. All that accountability and transparency we were promised hasn't really panned out. And aside from Feingold, it's now quite clear, if it wasn't before, that the fuss about a "unitary executive" and "shredding the Constitution" - buzzwords for an overreaching administration that showed insufficient respect for the Congress - was just another excuse (as if they needed one) to club the Bush administration.