There were ups and downs this weekend for the White House when it comes to Executive Branch nominations, as President Obama for the first time moved to bypass the U.S. Senate, but must also again find a new choice to lead airline security efforts.

The first storyline emerged on Friday night, when the President's second choice to head the TSA suddenly withdrew his nomination.

There had been rumblings about conflicts of interest involving retired Army Major General Robert Harding, who had left the military in 2001 to do work for military contractors doing work involving military intelligence.

That subject came up in a pair of Senate confirmation hearings last week, as Republicans refused to allow a quick vote on his nomination, wanting to take a closer look at some of his answers and the details of his contract work.

But the straw that might have broken the camel's back may have come from the Washington Post, which was ready to run an article this weekend about how Harding had won a consulting contract in July of 2008 worth almost $100 million by certifying that he was a "service disabled veteran."

So, big deal, right?  What's the problem there?  

How about, what was the disability?

The answer - sleep apnea.

In a statements released by the Administration, neither Harding nor the White House mentioned the sleep apnea issue.

That story didn't stay in the headlines long though, because on Saturday, the President moved to make 15 recess appointments of nominees who have not been acted on by the Senate.

The power of recess appointments allows a President to install someone in a job while the Congress is on an official recess.  (Congress is on a two week break for Easter and will not return until April 12.)

"President Bush had made 15 recess appointments by this point in his presidency, but he was not facing the same level of obstruction," the White House said in a statement released on Saturday, in which it said that these 15 nominees have been pending before the Senate for an average of 214 days.

There were no super-high-level jobs involved here.  There were two key aides in the Treasury Department for Secretary Timothy Geithner, but no one you would have ever heard of.

There were a couple posts at the Commerce Department, in the US Trade Representative's Office, Homeland Security, Farm Credit Administration, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the National Labor Relations Board.

One of two picks for the NLRB was Craig Becker, currently a top lawyer for the AFL-CIO and SEIU labor unions.  Some of you might remember that Becker's nomination had been blocked earlier by a GOP-led filibuster.

Becker was blocked in part because of controversy over what's known as "card check" legislation in Congress, which critics say will make it too easy for the NLRB to tip the scales in favor of unions and against business.

"Union Bosses' Bailout Begins" trumpeted a news release from the Republican National Committee.  "Recess Appointment of Becker Payback From Obama to His Union Paymasters."

The recess appointment is only a temporary thing - as Becker and the others can serve until this Congressional session is over, which would be the end of 2010 - as the President is leaving all 15 of these nominations before the Senate.

As with most things in Congress, recess appointments are good only when your party is the one making them.  Democrats cried loudly about the 165 recess appointments made by President George W. Bush, even taking the unusual step of actually keeping the Senate technically in session during Congressional breaks, simply to thwart any efforts by Mr. Bush to use his recess appointment powers.

Now the Democrats are the ones using the recess appointment power, and it is the Republicans who are denouncing the action, especially when it comes to the Craig Becker nomination.

It won't surprise anyone if this is just the first batch of recess appointments during the Obama Presidency.  The power has been used regularly by recent Presidents:  Ronald Reagan 243, George W. Bush 165, Bill Clinton 140, George H.W. Bush 77.

Probably the most controversial recess appointment in the Bush II Administration was his choice of John Bolton.  For Bill Clinton, it was his pick of Bill Lann Lee that created the biggest fuss in the halls of Congress.