Steven Rosenfeld: Five Ways Obama Undermined our Democracy!

Is Barack Obama, the former constitutional law professor and voting rights activist, allergic to democracy reform? Or have congressional Republicans thrown up such roadblocks that the White House has decided it's not worthwhile to fight for the key federal roadblocks that the White House has decided it's not worthwhile to fight for the key federal agencies that defend democracy: Whether the fault lies with the White House or with GOP obstructionists, or both, the results are the same. Federal institutions created to make campaign finances more transparent, and ensure that election technology is evolving, are paralyzed by empty leadership positions, while the executive branch's efforts to push ahead on its own have yielded little. "I've felt like Diogenes looking for an intelligent Republican and never found one, I am hoping that will change," said Craig Holman, Public Citizen's Capitol Hill lobbyist, who puts the blame on the GOP for blocking Obama's appointments. "But I've also been very critical of Obama for not taking on these fights. I've been asking Obama since 2009 to replace these commissioners and take on GOP Senate leader Mitch McConnell." Let's go through key parts of the federal landscape that are supposed to ensure a fairer and better democratic process, and identify what's stuck in the political mud: 1. Federal Election Commission. The six member FEC, which regulates how money is raised in federal campaigns, has five vacancies. Until those seats are filled, previously appointed commissioners keep their seats. That's the case now, with three Democrats and three Republicans, which has left the FEC deadlocked on every big issue in recent years, including rules that could have reeled in some of 2012's biggest law evading partisans. Trevor Potter, a former FEC commissioner and chairman, who is more recently known as Stephen Colbert's campaign finance attorney, recently wrote a Washington Post op ed saying that the moribund FEC is more to blame for 2012's top campaign finance abuses than the Supreme Court's 2010 Citizens United ruling.