Deliberating on Daschle

Tom Daschle's withdrawal from his nomination as Secretary of Health and Human Services due to his failure to pay taxes on, among other things, the car and driver which a wealthy friend let him use while in Washington, while appropriate, is troubling not only because Daschle may well have been a good HHS Secretary, but also, for those of us who support our new president and his agenda, it is not a helpful development. The details of the circumstances which forced Daschle to withdraw are particularly unfortunate because they simply reek of elite, affluent, Washington insider. For most Americans, failure to pay thousands of dollars of taxes on the limousine lent to you by your friend is even more difficult to understand or relate to than the more common affluent foible of failing to pay taxes on housekeepers, gardeners and the like.

Critics of President Obama will use this incident to claim that Obama is not really about change, and is captive of the same politicians and lobbyists who have always run Washington. More serious is the criticism of Obama on similar charges, which has already begun, from people and places that have been sympathetic to the President. Obama himself has taken responsibility for the Daschle debacle, which in of itself represents a pleasant break from previous administrations. However, more thoughtful observers, including supporters of the president, can use the Daschle affair as an opportunity to explore some of the human side of trying to bring change to Washington.

The notion of the outsider itself is a strange one in presidential politics. It is usually bestowed on politicians who, by any normal measure are consummate insiders, but who have somehow lived in Washington for less than a decade. Ronald Reagan, after serving eight years as governor of California, being a major media figure for several decades and a prominent leader of his party for well over a decade, was viewed as an outsider when he ran for president, not for the first time either, in 1980. Similarly, when he began his campaign Barack Obama had been a national figure for a few years, albeit fewer than most presidential candidates, with a network of relationships due to his education and political service, at the highest levels of his country and his party, but was been viewed as something of an outsider. Having said that, Obama certainly was not a typical presidential candidate. He seemed grounded in reality with a sense of the issues facing real Americans that many of the other candidates obviously did not have. In reality, of course, all major presidential candidates are, almost axiomatically, insiders.

Nonetheless, most presidents promise to change Washington and govern it differently. The difficulty of crafting such a government is two-fold. First, it is impractical. The mechanics of passing laws, effective governance, and getting things done in Washington is difficult and those who have been able to do it successfully over the years can be an important asset to any administration. The second point is less obvious, but more central. Many people with long experience working in government, even at high levels, are decent, smart, hard-working and able people. Precisely the kind of people a president would want in an administration. In my view Tom Daschle, along with other people in Obama's government such as Hillary Clinton, Eric Holder and numerous others fit that description. Moreover, Obama is not alone in being opposed to the Washington insider culture but having respect, and probably broadly warm feelings, for a number of insiders.

Many ordinary Americans have mixed feeling about our leaders as well. While we complain and criticize the culture of Washington, we all can think media figures, elected representatives and other insiders who we like and respect. For years, political scientists have observed a similar phenomenon, that Americans hate congress, but like their congressmember. Individual insiders, therefore, are not the problem. Rather it is the insider approach and even mentality that creates resentment from the rest of America. Daschle may well have honestly forgotten to pay taxes on the limousine because he works in a world where powerful people exchange favors all the time and where most people have a car to take them where they want to go. This is not the world in which most of you, or I, live, but over the time it became the only world in which Daschle, a member in good standing of the Washington insider class, lived.

While failing to pay taxes is a serious issue, the core problem are not the individual mistakes, but that the insider culture and mentality that facilitates those mistakes also contributes to a style of governance that frequently does not look much beyond the beltway. The dangers of this insider culture go beyond unpaid taxes and botched nominations but can lead to larger problems of groupthink and closed policy loops. Already, the Obama administration has sought to combat the miasma of the insider Washington culture in their administration by continuing to mobilize, and seek input from activists and other supporters around the country. Balancing the need to have experienced hands such as Eric Holder, Rahm Emmanuel, Hillary Clinton, and Joe Biden while avoiding having his administration dominated by insider culture, will only happen with constant vision and leadership from the top. Getting this balance right may very well determine the success or failure of Obama's presidency.

Comments

[Robin08]

Good article Mr. Mitchell.

I completely agree when you say, "The dangers of this insider culture go beyond unpaid taxes and botched nominations but can lead to larger problems of groupthink and closed policy loops.... Balancing the need to have experienced hands ... while avoiding having his administration dominated by insider culture, will only happen with constant vision and leadership from the top. Getting this balance right may very well determine the success or failure of Obama's presidency."

Tom Daschle is quite likely a very fine man. I do not however subscribe to the view that healthcare reform is doomed because Tom Daschle is not at HHS. I worried that the insider culture you speak of (to which Daschle is a gold star member) coupled with his ties to the health insurance industry and his go along to get along style, would not provide the kind of bold, strong and agressive leadership we will need to tackle healthcare reform. I don't see why Daschle can't still play a role (much like Gore on climate change). Personally I think his withdrawal may well be a good thing in the long run.

[ignorantwillyharper]

I never had much for him and evidently South Dakota didn't either.

[AnnfromCA]

55% of the public perceive that WA insiders do not pay their taxes properly.

Talk about a crisis of trust.

[midpointpolitico]

Does anybody mourn the loss of a great mind to reform healthcare? The politics of the whole debacle is better discussed by others. As a Health Care Professional I am deeply saddened that one more time Health Care Reform will eventually be put on the back burner.

Will every person who reads this post have paid all their taxes? I doubt it. Should Tom Daschle have gotten a pass? He probably deserves it as much as Geithner. Oh, right Geithner got there first; Wall Street and Republicans like him, he got confirmed. The world is not black and white, there are shades of gray. I am a believer in doing what is best for the greater good. In my opinion Tom Daschle served the greater good of healthcare.

[MomfromTexas]

Completely agree!

[MomfromTexas]

People who are "insiders" are people who have been in Washington for a long time? In other words, they have experience and connections in Washington? And this is a bad thing? Is it a bad thing, for a teacher to have thirty years of experience? To understand Special Education law verbatim and to be called in by the school district to mediate disputes between parents and school administration during IEP meetings because the teacher has earned a reputation, as being the best person in the district to do this? Is it a bad thing for a musician to have thirty years of experience? To have worked her way up to the principal violinist in the symphony? To be the first one the producers of a theater production call, when they need a violinist because they've heard her play over the thirty years and think she's the best? Is it a bad thing that someone has thirty years of experience writing and has written books that have won awards and/or sold well? For this writer to be easily published because the last three books he's written for his publisher have made money and been successful?

Insiders exist in every business. Washington is no different. It's not a bad thing to be part of this club, when you are because of the skill you have acquired from decades of not giving up, working diligently, focusing your talent and skills, and proven to those in your profession that you are the best.

[johnsonc20]

The problem is not that someone has experience or is knowledgeable - it is what that person has done with that knowledge. Daschle cashed in to the tune of $5 million over the last four years. $2 million was from the "health" industry. He had a rich friend paying for his chauffeur and limo. He was knowledgeable of the inner workings of the health industry, but out of touch with the real world in which most Americans live.

There are plenty of insiders who are not as compromised as Daschle proved to be. For example, in the economic arena, why wasn't Joseph Stieglitz chosen as Treasury Secretary or White House Economic Advisor instead of the hacks Geithner and Larry Summers who were, and still are, part of the laissez faire crowd who got us into this economic mess? Stieglitz spent years on the Hill, but his ideas are not as "Wall Street friendly" as those of Messrs. Geithner and Summers.

In other words, there are insiders and there are insiders. Not all insiders are created equal.

[MomfromTexas]

Heck, if someone would pay me $50,000 for a speech about Special Education reform, I would take it. If a friend wanted to supply a limo and a driver, as I went around to my different speaking engagements, I'd take it. And I don't think either one of those things would compromise my integrity. I don't see anything wrong with having money and making money, if how you are making the money is O.K. morally. No one has convinced me that Daschle's income was not O.K. morally. Yes, he cashed in on what he knew the most about and could make the most money doing. Well, good for him! We still live in a society, where it's legal to get rich, and I hope we always do. Even as I see the evils of greed paraded in front of me with the scandals that have become public in the last year, I still believe in capitalism, for I know great wealth can do great things for the good. Look at Gates, for example, and what he has done to try and improve education and health care, not only in the United States but, also, across the world.

Geithner? There's something about him I don't like. I can't explain it, but it has to do with the way he mumbles and doesn't make eye contact. Perhaps, he's an intellectual introvert, and social skills aren't his thing. I don't know, though.

[RButler]

Wasn't Obama cute when he said "I screwed up"? Just too precious. But, the whole thing didn't make sense. Obama said his administration wants to send the message that there aren't 2 sets of standards. Well, he kept Geithner, didn't he? Also, he would have kept Daschle if Daschle hadn't read the NYT and decided to withdraw. Unless, of course, Obama asked him to withdraw, but this is a transparent presidency, right, and we would have been told that. But, wasn't he cute when he said "I screwed up:". Of course, he used that line in his first 2 weeks. It will get old if he uses it again and again as a 'get out of jail free' card.

[camper65]

Are you KIDDING ME?? His choices look like Clinton redux!

[TheBaffler]

Yes, indeed. He's surrounded himself with establishmentarians who've devoted their lives to combating progress and change.

[rubinoff]

i feel daschle got a raw deal....everyone knows the rich and powerful don't pay for too much of anything...besides, it was an error made by his accountant...much ado about nothing, imho...it only goes to show the cut-throats in the den of vipers....daschle could have done sooo much for healthcare.
maybe he would have exposed that mutual admiration society (doctors and big pharma).????

[siegfried]

Leaving the tax issue aside, he just spent two years working for the health insurance industry. So now he's going to stand up for ordinary people.

[smag]

BO must have gotten his nominees from the Trash can outside Dean's house.