As one White House “czar” departs amid a cloud of controversy, an undeterred President Obama is naming a new one to advise him on manufacturing, defying conservative critics who have raised concerns about these advisory positions that do not require congressional oversight. 

Obama chose a Labor Day union picnic on Monday as the backdrop to announce his selection of Ron Bloom, a member of his auto industry task force, as senior counselor for manufacturing policy. Bloom planned to travel to Cincinnati with Obama for an afternoon announcement at the AFL-CIO event.

The announcement follows the weekend resignation of Van Jones, the White House “green jobs czar” who had come under fire in recent weeks for past inflammatory statements, including one where he called Republicans “assholes,” and his signature on a petition suggesting that the U.S. government played a role in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Republicans had been calling for Jones to resign and raising concerns about all the czars Obama has appointed –which by some accounts amount to more than 30.

Dana Perino, a White House spokeswoman for the Bush administration, told FOX News that presidents like to appoint czars because it can be hard to get political appointees confirmed by an increasingly partisan Congress.

“They have skirted around that process so there is no accountability for the czars,” she said Monday. “Nobody has to go up and testify in front of Congress. They don’t have to go through the process.”

Bloom has already sidestepped congressional approval. He was senior adviser to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner as part of the auto industry task force since February. Bloom, a Harvard Business School graduate, previously advised the United Steelworkers union and worked as an investment banker.

Bloom will work with the National Economic Council to lead policy development and planning for Obama’s work to revitalize U.S. manufacturing, the White House said.

Perino said she doesn’t object to the White House focusing on revitalizing the battered manufacturing industry.

“The National Economic Council, which is part of the White House with a seat right inside the West Wing, that’s what their job is supposed to be,” she said. “I’m not clear as to why they have to add all these additional layers.”

Author and journalist Ronld Kessler, a national security expert, said Obama’s lack of management experience is starting to catch up with him.

“You’re seeing a White House in disarray,” he said, citing the contentious debate over health care reform and the decision to close the Guantanamo Bay prison without finding a place to send the detainees. “He is not exactly a model CEO.”

Obama’s speech to union members was the first of at least three speeches this week. His remarks Monday were expected to touch on health care in advance of a Wednesday evening address to Congress on his proposed overhaul. On Tuesday, Obama will speak to American children as they begin the school year.

The AFL-CIO Labor Day picnic normally draws up to 20,000 people, union spokesman Eddie Vale said. AFL-CIO president John Sweeney and secretary-treasurer Richard Trumka were expected to welcome Obama to the gathering.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tennessee, said that number is an “affront to the Constitution.”

“We have about two dozen so-called czars — the ‘pay czar,’ the ‘car czar,’ all these czars in the White House,” said Alexander, who is the Senate Republican Conference chairman.

But Alexander said the lack of oversight is adding “fuel to the fire by those who think Washington is taking over everything.”

Democratic strategist Maria Cardona said the number of czars is not the issue, because “this is something that happens in all administrations.”

Donna Brazile, a CNN contributor and Democratic strategist, defended the Obama administration’s use of the special advisers.

“President Obama is assembling the best and the brightest to help transform our economy to ensure that we can adapt to the new conditions that face us each and every day,” she said. “These are people with special expertise.”

Indiana Rep. Mike Pence, chairman of the House Republican Conference, said Sunday that Obama should suspend any future czar position as Congress “carefully examines the background and qualifications of the more than 30 individuals who’ve been appointed to these czar positions.”

On Monday, Obama appointed Ron Bloom to be special adviser for manufacturing policy, or the “auto czar.”

“Ron has the knowledge and experience necessary to lead the way in creating the good-paying manufacturing jobs of the future,” Obama said in a statement Sunday. “We must do more to harness the power of American ingenuity and productivity so that we can put people back to work and unleash our full economic potential.”

Republicans have grumbled about the appointments since the beginning of his administration, but revelations about the past of Obama’s green jobs czar, Van Jones, caused the grumbling to grow louder.

Jones resigned early Saturday after an onslaught of criticism aimed at his past statements and affiliations.

In 2004, Jones signed a petition that called for an investigation of whether government officials allowed the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

In a statement last week, Jones said of the petition on the Web site 911truth.org: “I do not agree with this statement and it certainly does not reflect my views now or ever.”

Jones had not carefully reviewed the language in the petition before signing, an administration source said last week. Watch more about the Jones controversy »

As to whether the president ordered the resignation, White House adviser David Axelrod said “absolutely not. This was Van Jones’ own decision.”

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said that Obama accepted Jones’ resignation because “the agenda of this president was bigger than any one individual.”

“The president thanks Van Jones for his service in the first eight months, and helping to coordinate renewable energy jobs that are going to lay the foundation for our future economic growth,” he said.

President Obama’s payoffs to Big Labor continue.

The union bosses got not one, but two, Cabinet appointees: Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Labor Secretary Hilda Solis.

Former SEIU chief lobbyist and Soros-funded operative Patrick Gaspard is White House Director of Political Affairs.

SEIU Secretary-Treasurer Anna Burger serves on the President’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board.

SEIU thug-in-chief Andy Sternhas a seat at the table of every domestic policy initiative.

At the New York Federal Reserve, the AFL-CIO’s New York chief Dennis Hughes is now chairman, replacing Obama Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner.

AFL-CIO official Naomi Walker received a midnight lobbyist waiver so she can communicate with her union buddies in her new role as Assistant Deputy Secretary of Labor.

And to cap off Labor Day weekend, Obama named union heavy Ron Bloom — who cut his teeth at the foot of John Sweeney when he headed up the SEIU — the new “manufacturing czar.”

Bloom will continue to double-dip the government coffers as the Treasury Secretary’s car czar — oh, excuse me, “senior auto adviser.”

Like so many of the Czars of the Obama Underworld, Bloom will serve in a completely superfluous position. Why does America need a “manufacturing” czar? Doesn’t the Department of Labor cover that jurisdiction already?