FCC’s Inspector General investigating whether Ajit Pai acted inappropriately

It's a tradition backed by the Constitutional rule that appointees must be confirmed by the Senate, and structure and rules of the Senate which, in practice on matters of appointment (for those offices for which filibusters have not been abolished in Senate rules), allow either major party, if unified, to obstruct appointments (and, additionally, legislation.)

So, sure, Obama could have not appointed whoever McConnell chose—and had even worse legislative prospects and basically guaranteed a vacancy that his successor would have gotten to fill, while weakening a tradition that (given the way power is divided in the US Constitution) is key to various parts of the government functioning at all.

> couldn't he have ignored this tradition and put into place an Independent/Green Party member?

No. He could have nominated such a person, but they would have zero chance of being confirmed. If he chose not to nominate Pai, he would, to have any choice of confirmation, find someone who enough Republican Senators liked better than Pai enough to overlook the violation of tradition and snub of their leadership. Which might be possible, but probably wouldn't be any better.

The President is not a dictator, and there are significant checks on his power in the American system.

Unfortunately the modern GOP was a party with a narrow, declining constituency that was reinvigorated by a tidal wave of money, much more so than the Democratic Party, which is a big tent party with many different constituencies.

Personally, I don’t think that a guy like Pat is fit for public service, whatever his beliefs. He’s too obviously close to past employers.