DAN RIEHL SAYS THAT Obama isn’t doing as badly on appointments overall as those high-profile failures make it seem. Megan McArdle notes that some sectors are doing better than others: “That’s in the defense/foreign policy area, which is comparatively well-advanced in finding staff compared to Treasury. At least in those areas, a powerful government position is the apotheosis of the field, which means that people are often willing to put up with the hassles. In areas where there are more lucrative options with near-equal prestige–i.e., nearly all the rest of them–it’s getting harder and harder.”

She denounces “This new tradition of bulldogging every appointee in the hope of embarrassing the president.” On the other hand, a number of these candidates — Chas Freeman, or Bill Richardson, for example — have faced something more than a nanny problem.