President Barack Obama wants former South Dakota Sen. Tom Daschle to be Secretary of Health and Human Services. There's just one snag: Daschle hadn't disclosed that he failed to pay $128,000 in taxes on the car and driver provided for him by Alston & Bird, the D.C. law and lobbying firm where he served as Special Public Policy Advisor to various health-care clients since 2005.
Then there's Tim Geithner, Obama's choice for Treasury Secretary, who is a former executive (2001-2003) of the International Monetary Fund, where he failed to pay $15,000 in Social Security taxes; taxes he was responsible for paying the government directly, since the IMF did not withhold them from his paychecks. He recently paid the tax plus almost $2000 in interest, but no penalties.
And in an effort to cleanse Washington from its diseased influence from special interests -- rampant under the Bush administration -- Obama announced strict new rules limiting lobbyist activity, promising that "no political appointees in an Obama administration will be permitted to work on regulations or contracts directly and substantially related to their prior employer for two years." The only problem was that just 24 hours later he appointed William Lynn III, a former lobbyist for U.S. defense contractor, Raytheon, to be a Deputy Secretary of Defense.
With these questionable appointments, the prevailing White House justification has been that each candidate is "uniquely qualified" for the job. But is that really good enough? Is that what Obama meant when he promised America that he was bringing a new moral and ethical standard to Washington in the post-Bush era? Is this really the message he wants to convey to voters in just his fist month in office; a message that it's ok to break or skirt the law just as long as you're a good guy with a special skill-set? Or that it's ok, as in the case with Lynn, to bend your own rules when it suits you?
The answer, of course, is no. Obama has an opportunity with Daschle to get his mission back on course, and to to deliver on his promise to hold his staff to higher standards. He should lead by example, and that means withdrawing the former Senate Majority/Minority Leader's nomination immediately before the soup gets too thick and he gives Republicans too much ammo in their opposition role.
Let's face it, there's plenty of folks who can fill Daschle's post. He's an extraneous piece of the Obama puzzle. He's simply not worth the fight; not worth the potential damage to Obama's reputation. Unlike Geithner, who's former role as head of the New York Fed makes him supremely qualified to help steer the nation through this deep economic and banking crisis, Daschle is expendable. Now don't get me wrong: I'm not justifying Geithner's appointment because he is "uniquely qualified.". The point is, if Obama wants to score points with voters and immediately shift the PR momentum, he can do so and still end up with the guy he really needs by casting off the one he doesn't. It's a smart political move.
Most of you didn't see this coming and still act as if real change has happened. Two nominees that haven't been paying taxes, yeah that's change. Filling a key spot at a Defense position with a defense lobbyist after you promised not to do so, yeah that's change. Now I'm just waiting for a scandal, it's bound to happen, yes that's change. The only thing that will change are the faces, same story with different actors.
Obama promised to use funds from the General Election Fund, but broke that promise. What made you think he would keep other promises? Because he is a good speaker? Because of his extensive experience of a few years? He raised hundreds of millions of dollars, the most ever raised, and do you think that was done without lobbyists or special interest groups? Come on, you have to be smarter than that.
Please tell me how any of this is real change. Donkey, Elephant, Blue, Red, Republican, Democrat....do you think it matters? Do you really? Each have their own agendas and their own party loyalty. The only true change will be when a President is elected that is truly independent and to where their loyalties lie with the American people only.
It seems that if it is criminal evasion, he should be dropped as a candidate and prosecuted. If it is unintentional underreporting, then it should be explained why it was not found before and why it was found now, restitution should be paid (done), and the matter should be done with.
It is likely that nobody has ever put a TEAM of tax attorneys on a mission to scrub thier (or anybody else's) tax returns until they are being considered for a high-profile cabinet post or other political office, so many of these highly esoteric issues would remain obscured.
Unlike many, many other adults.
Maybe THAT is the problem with Reps.. there 's a book on it, look it up.
you have to get out more, little one.
The Travails of Tom Daschle - "The nominee for secretary of health and human services ought to withdraw his name and let the president choose a less-blemished successor."
link: http://www.nytimes.com/pages/opinion/index.html
I'd say there's a HUGE qualitative diff there and most would agree.
this is a bunch of media hype, similar to how they tried to hobble Clinton.
I'll cut and paste the link from another poster again
TAKE ACTION:
1. Write to your Senator TODAY and urge them NOT to confirm Daschle. You can find your Senator"s contact information here: http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml
2. SHARE YOUR OPINIONS ABOUT DASCHLE WTIH OBAMA AT: http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact
http://thepurplecenter.blogspot.com
It is totally irrelevant how "uniquely qualified" Tom Daschle might be as the Secretary of Health and Human Services. He should remove himself from consideration and if he does not, then the President should do so because it is vital for our nation not to lose their trust in the integrity of our Barack Hossein Obama. Fortunately we live a dynamic society in which myriad of individuals would be qualified for any post and any level of our government. During the 2008 presidential election, for example, we had as many as 15 official candidates for the position of the President of the United States.
Someone else should be nominated in place of Tom Daschle who could perhaps function as a key advisor to the vital Department of Health and Human Services.
Who do we Trust a president who touts Tax evaders in his cabinet? I can over look an undocumented or lapsed green card but c'mon taxes and paying taxes are cornerstones of the Democratic agenda.
Daschle is not the only person capable of doing the job. Why do we hold Democrats to such a low standard President Obama? Are you not better than that?
It is as if we have to stoop down to the Bush level all over again and wallow in the fetid puke the dregs of the democratic party.
In medical school certain people could pass with 10% less passing grade because of what?
We needed more female and minority doctors and now we have lots of them.
We are on our way to being a banana republic.
You call Harriet Miers and Roberto Gonzales greatly qualified? How about the people put in the A.G.'s office simply because they were willing to be partisan? How about Rumsfield? Great job by him, huh? Oh, Sarah Palin was a genius, wasn't she?
By the way, what medical school were you involved with graded people differently based on sex or race? Do you have proof of that?
I can tell you from my experiences, medicine is not the high-paying field it was 20-30+ years ago, but the "hoops" you have to jump through increase on a daily basis. White males have simply decided other fields are more lucrative with better lifestyles. That's what is changing the face of medicine, not selective grading in medical school.
One fool of a CEO uses over a million dollars to remodel his office while hundreds of employees at his company are being laid off and thousands of his customers are facing foreclosures.
Companies standing in line for bail-out money, use that money for luxurious week-end "get-aways" for their corprate officers.
A former congressman claims ignorance about the payment of over $125,000 in TAXES???????
Oh my dear HENRY!!!!!!!!!!! How does a person who is supposedly dedicated to public service earn so much money that their taxes and personal finances are in such a mess that you do not realize that you made so much money and got so many freebies that you owed this kind of TAX????
How on earth can he be clean if he got freebies that amounted to the hundreds of THOUSANDS of $$$ that would cause him to owe that much tax?????
These numbers are more than my little pea-brain can handle.