Politics of Flu: Kathleen Sebelius to be Confirmed Today

Nothing like a potential flu pandemic to light a fire underneath Congressional Republicans' collective posterior. Long held up over Republican objections to her views on abortion rights, Kathleen Sebelius will be confirmed today as the Secretary of Health and Human Services. With the sudden appearance of swine flu, Republicans faced increasing scrutiny over holding up Sebelius' nomination:

Sebelius would have an immediate challenge because of the swine flu outbreak. With no HHS secretary in place, the White House has turned to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano to help lead its response, even while insisting that vacancies at the top of HHS were not a problem.

As I wrote yesterday, Napolitano has benefited by being the government's point person on the swine flu, as it deflected attention away from DHS's leaked report on right wing extremists. Now, Sebelius stands to gain from the flu crisis, seeing her contested nomination put into perspective. Though the Obama administration emphasizes that it has been on top of the epidemic from the start, there's no doubt that it would have been preferable to have had a Secretary of HHS already in place.

The politics of obstructionism did not serve the GOP well in this instance. This might be one more reason why party affiliation stats are sinking like a stone.


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