IN MY last article of 2011, I predicted that the National Labour
Relations Board (NLRB) would begin the new year "statutorily
impotent, politically riven or both." For a Von Hoffman nominee,
one of three ain't bad. Barack Obama seems to have avoided
statutory impotence by recess appointing not one, but three
members to the NLRB (he also recess-appointed Richard Cordray
(pictured) to head the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau). If
the appointments go through, the board will have a full five
members for the first time since the summer of 2010 (and then
just for two months).  But that, as they say, is a Big If.
Technically, the Senate was not in recess; Republican senators
have been holding pro forma sessions designed to avoid giving
the president the chance to recess-appoint anyone. During the
previous administration, Democratic senators did exactly the
same thing, and like many a parliamentary tactic, it worked
until it didn't. Mr Obama called Republicans' bluff. Dan
Pfeiffer, writing on the White House blog,