Unlike his White House chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, who this week predicted a "big fight" over confirmation, Mr. Obama said in an interview with CNBC and The New York Times that he would pick "somebody who will be confirmable" and forecast "a smooth confirmation process".
"Warren is confirmable, and a fight over her confirmation is worth having," he said.
I would nevertheless submit that it is his general receptivity to the rhythms and atmospheres of the future that we should value, rather than the slightly carny business of confirmable outcomes.
In a court filing, the hedge fund said "that despite the purported consensus supporting the debtors' plan, Centerbridge — and it believes numerous other creditors — do not believe that the new plan is confirmable".
At the same time, the Senate approved, 89 to 8, a second proposal that would expedite consideration of appointees to about 250 positions on part-time boards and commissions, slicing the number of confirmable posts to 1,000 from about 1,400.
But that number has escalated, and the action on Wednesday makes only a dent in those confirmable posts.
Decreasing the number of confirmable positions will help the Senate focus on those who truly merit serious scrutiny, they said.
While the "why" question is irresistible, when case studies of murder-suicide perpetrators focus instead on identifying confirmable patterns of behavior, they are more likely to bear useful information.
But Democrats will need a credible, and confirmable, interlocutor with Republicans to push through any changes that might resemble tax increases.
While it would not affect senior positions, the legislation, and a related proposal to expedite filling about 250 part-time positions, is intended to reverse an explosion in confirmable posts from about 280 when President John F. Kennedy took office in 1961 to 1,400 today.
