Speaking as one of Senator Gregg’s constituents, I agree with Andy: There’s nothing “ethical” in one of only a hundred people out of 300 million who get to vote on this behemoth sitting on his hands.

On the one hand, why does an incoming cabinet secretary have to recuse himself when his boss is agitating for the legislation to pass?

On the other hand, why should an outgoing legislator have to recuse himself from his final votes? Presumably, when President Obama nominated Gregg, he was aware that the Senator had voted against the bill in the Appropriations Committee, and that this is unfinished business that he should be allowed to finish as he sees fit.

And, on the other other hand, since our major trading partners began threatening a global trade war over this bill’s protectionist clauses, Obama has been telling Canada and Europe that all these “Buy American” provisions are nothing to do with him. Wouldn’t one way of reassuring the world be for the incoming Commerce Secretary to vote against the bill on those grounds alone? For one thing, it’ll be Secretary Gregg’s underlings who wind up tied up in WTO litigation for the rest of the first term.

On the other other other hand, voting present in such a weaselly way suggests Senator Gregg’s Obamassimilation is proceeding apace.