Me, too: Daschle's Disgraces
WE BROUGHT HIM DOWN, folks! :)
"Obama talks tough with Wall St., but what about his Cabinet?" by Peter S. Canellos, Globe Staff | February 3, 2009
WASHINGTON - .... When news reports came out that Obama's health and human services secretary-designate, Tom Daschle, had initially failed to pay about $140,000 in taxes, mostly on a car and driver provided by a private equity firm, there was no scolding from the commander in chief....
Obama, whose high-mindedness at times verges on aloofness, will inevitably be attacked for putting his own team's sense of superiority - the belief that Geithner and Daschle are so talented that they're irreplaceable - ahead of the normal sense of accountability that would apply to people who fail to pay their taxes on time.
Tolerating such lapses could also diminish Obama's moral leadership, the strong voice that rang out in condemning last week's news of the Wall Street bonuses. The president's ability to call a halt to irresponsible behavior by powerful people is needed to fulfill his pledge to reform the political system.
To be sure, there are many Americans who won't take the lapses of Geithner and Daschle very seriously. Though some Republicans have condemned the two nominees in strong terms, other Obama opponents are holding back, perhaps fearful of a witch hunt in which all of Washington will be forced to scrutinize their forms for Medicare taxes, for drivers and nannies, underreported honoraria, and the like.
And some average Americans, frustrated by a system that requires anyone who sells an old sofa on
To them, the idea that Geithner and Daschle could amass underpayments greater than most family incomes isn't a cause for much sympathy. And Obama, whose righteousness has struck a chord with Middle America, would do well to express his own outrage, rather than try to shield his nominees behind his own considerable presence.
What's changed since Bush?
