"The Buck Stops at the FCC"-(Net Neutrality)

[merrily]

31. Presidents don't have a lot of need to give orders to "independent" agency heads. They choose

Last edited Sun Mar 4, 2018, 12:16 PM - Edit history (2)

people who are already sympathetic to their wishes and can ask for their resignation, or remove them, at any time. "I serve at the pleasure of the President" has a lot of meaning; and people who serve at the pleasure of the President know that very well.

And there's always those discussions with Cabinet Secretaries, both formal and informal and schoozing with agency heads at receptions. No formal orders, perhaps, but Presidents have many ways of making their wishes known to those whose undated resignations may be in the desk as I type.

For industry darlings, like Wheeler and a lot of FCC lawyers, the next time they emerge from the revolving door will make them very desirable to the broadband behemoths like Comcast and Verizon. Likely, the bucks they pull down for the rest of their careers will dwarf what they made before getting into the FCC and making all those wonderful government contacts from the inside. And the inside of a Democratic administration, no less. They have no desire to be fired, um, tender their resignaations.

So, yes, "Of course, I am in favor of net neutrality, but I don't give orders to the FCC" is a lot like many of Obama's other statements that his supporters can latch onto and repeat, as though it there is nothing else behind it.

If I were a President in favor of net neutrality, though, I would not have nominated Wheeler to head the FCC and the FCC would not be full of former broadband industry lobbyists.