The Washington Post reported in 1981 that Mr. Lefever's appointment mattered greatly to "ultraconservatives" because the new secretary of state, Alexander M. Haig Jr., had not included ideological hardliners in his policy-making team at the State Department.
Some of those interviewed said Hispanic appointments mattered less than issues affecting them directly, like immigration and the economy.
And second, if liberals want to take the courts back from conservatives, they have to recognize that ideas — and judicial appointments — matter.
It is an appointment that matters.
But since then, he has thrown his weight around over cabinet appointments, budgetary matters and affairs of state (he recently demanded to meet Barack Obama on a forthcoming visit to Washington).
"For years we've expressed strong concerns about corporate influence on the Democratic Party," John J. Sweeney, president of the AFL-CIO, said Wednesday in a statement implicitly critical of the symbolism of the appointment, no matter Mr. Furman's economic skills.
Instead of saying that you are stressed, just tell your boss that you have a few important personal appointments or matters to address and would like the day off from work.
But perhaps these appointments hardly matter.
Individual appointments do matter, though.
Reconstruction of the civil service was a euphemism for dismissing Jews from state appointments; that mattered in academic life because nearly all universities were state run.
