Daschle Dashed

The TV machine reports that this NYT op ed piece was the final straw that sunk the nomination of Tom Daschle as secretary of health and human services. It was not just his tax problems; the NYT believed that "financial ties to major players in the health care industry may prove to be even more troublesome." If Obama is to walk-the-walk of shutting down the lobbyist/government revolving door, then he needs to waive the waivers.

Back to the tax issue, I have always been under the assumption that if you don't report taxable income or if you list bogus deductions, you are committing a crime, not an honest mistake. If the reporting is accurate, Mr. Daschle only came clean because he anticipated that his financial records might come under scrutiny. There was no smoking-gun 1099 from his employer, so had he been headed to retirement, he might never had amended his taxes.

But he did amend his taxes and pay off the IRS, without further allegation of wrong-doing, so what's the big deal? That would be perception, that is, the perception that change has not really come to Washington and the rules get changed for special people.

Daschle did the right thing by withdrawing. Nancy Killefer, the almost chief performance officer, also did the right thing. Timothy F. Geithner, our treasury secretary, not so much.

Obama went on the TV machine and admitted to Katie Couric that he had made a mistake concerning the Daschle nomination. Point to Obama.