Another Bad Idea from John Edwards

"Brownie's Law" would be a requirement that any political appointee made by the president have demonstrable qualifications for the office. Jim Geraghty notes

I come to bury Brownie, not to praise him. But the right solution isn't some law trying to mandate the resume requirements of appointed officials. It's the job of the legislative branch - and the press - to scrutinize appointees. Edwards' solution would be to take a sledgehammer to a fly. For starters, what is "demonstrated qualifications in the field"? Who would decide what experience counts and what doesn't?

I would ask Edwards supporters, would you say that a man whose primary experience is in running a political party's national committee and running a political convention is qualified to, say, run the Department of Commerce? If no, congratulations, you just disqualified Clinton's Commerce Secretary Ron Brown.

Do you think a Miami prosecutor is sufficiently qualified to step into the top spot at the Department of Justice? If not, you've just eliminated Janet Reno. How about a longtime presidential friend, a magazine editor, and a Harvard professor - think this person, with little administrative experience, is qualified to serve as Secretary of Labor? Sorry, Robert Reich, the Edwards supporters have given you the thumbs-down.

A lot of political appointees lack experience for Cabinet positions, after all how many people have a lot of experience running large administrative agencies? The president is entitled to appoint whom he chooses and barring a criminal past or some other sort of obvious disqualification, Congress should confirm the appointee.

Should the appointee drop the ball, like Michale Brown, then it is the president who takes teh blame--and rightfully so.