Megan McArdle:

My liberal commenters want me to excoriate the Republicans for making the president worry about tax trivia. I thought I did, yesterday. But okay, consider them excoriated. Now, back to The President. The one with the really sizeable majority in both houses and the stellar approval ratings.
Mr. President, it’s time to get serious. Go on the road and complain about Republican obstructionism, if it’s such a big problem. You’ve got a lot of political capital to spend. Use it. Tell the public why this issue is important. Tell them the Republicans are irresponsibly grandstanding and that sainthood cannot be a job requirement for these appointments. Because unless you think Jesus is coming back, like, tomorrow, we can’t really afford to wait for his return to call 144,000 potentially qualified Treasury undersecretaries out of their graves.

There are a couple of problems with the “Republican obstructionism” argument. For starters, nominees only need the approval of a majority, and Democrats have 59 votes, not counting Specter, Snowe, Collins, etc. Beyond that, I haven’t heard any serious threats to filibuster any nominee so far. All previous cabinet appointments with controversies — Hillary Clinton, Eric Holder, Tim Geithner — all confirmed.

How little does the Senate worry about this so-called “tax trivia”? Yesterday, the Senate Finance Committee confirmed U.S. Trade Representative nominee Ron Kirk on a voice vote. (Absent Sen. Jim Bunning’s objection was noted for the record.)

As for the folks who didn’t make it to Obama’s cabinet — Richardson, Daschle, Killefer — these folks withdrew before facing a vote. Obviously, they faced something more than “Republican obstructionism.”

As noted, all of the Treasury folks are withdrawing before being formally named. In other words, either the nominees themselves or someone else in the administration is saying, “there’s a problem, this can’t go forward.” We don’t know precisely what those issues are, but obviously, somebody on Team Obama thinks they’re significant.

Beyond that, I don’t know if the President wants to go before the public and insist people stop complaining about “tax trivia” between now and, oh, April 16 or so.