"No Drama" Wins Again: Daschle Out - Paging Dr. Lambrew?

Here.

Senator Judd Gregg who proposed to abolish Department of Commerce in 1995 gets appointed Secretary of Commerce and Senator Daschle falls on his sword. I don't know how the latter will play but the former along with Gregg's demand that a Democratic governor repalce him with a Republican has had the peculiar effect of weakening the New Hampshire congress persons who supported Obama and strengthening the party old guard that didn't.

Back on thread, Daschle seemed to be on the wrong beat anyways. He called for the Health Care House parties a few days after the Change is Coming house parties, halving the participants in our county.

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/02/01/daschle/index.html

On this one, I happen to think the taxes were irrelevant. The question that ought to matter is Daschle's obvious willingness to join the feeding frenzy at the swill trough. That's just not what we need in an administration, and it worries me that Obama let this get so far. Or did the White House leak some material so they could be rid of Daschle, and blame the Press? Was this another longterm plan, accepting a short-term hit in order to remove a systemis problem?

Daschle withdraws, allowing Obama to save face and take the ethical high ground.

@zilifant - "That's just not what we need in an administration, and it worries me that Obama let this get so far."

What's up with all this worrying? I noticed the same phenomenon on Kos this morning on this very subject. Suddenly the Obama adminstration is unethical because Daschle and Geitner didn't pay their taxes. To me this kind of pointless and counter-productive hand-wringing is the mirror image of rightwing acrimony - whose goal is to undermine the administration and deflate to whatever extent Obama's high approval rating. Quit worrying, fer chrissakes! You become the oppo's unwitting lackey when you do it.

This theme is also present in the stimulus debate, where every nit-picking keyboard pundit wails about each little budget line item that faces the DELETE button without acknowledging that throughout the process the Republicans have become downright liberal about stimulus spending. They can't get enough of it.

In 1992, after a very short time in office, it became fairly clear that Clinton was very skilled at winning elections, but not skilled at governing.  It was as though the Clintons had all their ducks in order, but when they arrived at the White House it was, "Now what?"  

In contrast, the Obama administration has had a pretty good first few weeks with some real accomplishments (Ledbetter).  

However, perception is very important and I hope that the multiple appointment missteps (which will consume the media)  will not lead to a perception that the vaunted Obama competence ended at the ballot box.  The fact that Daschle did not inform Obama of his tax problem until AFTER he was selected will get lost in the media frenzy and the media will, in any case, focus on the fact that President Obama supported Daschle even after the disclosure was made.

I hope this is the last of the appointment problems.  

While I agree that some of the tax problems for Obama's nominees seem small, its still surprising to have these highly placed DEMOCRATS have this sort of problem (despite the vaunted "Vetting" process). 

No matter what Daschle did for Obama, he was going to cost him almost as much in sheer embarassment and wasted political influence.  Enough.  I hope that there are no more "surprises".

Obama has to be almost flawless as he marshalls public opinion to pass the critical legislation to save our freakin economy.  He doesnt need the distraction of these selfish nuckle heads -- after all, where have ALL of these people been?  Didn't they live through Clinton?  Don't they know what we are up against?

To my mind, Daschle owes Obama a huge apology as do the other nitwits who waste his popularity and political capital with their selfish crap. I am really pissed...

I hope that Daschle drives somewhere very far away in his freakin limousine.

We already know he's clean on his taxes. And we know he's available. Is this a possibility?

Hello Al,

As always, I am of the opinion that you are on point regarding Tom Daschle.  If Daschle decided that he did not wish to be a "media" distraction, I understand and I appreciate his loyalty to the mission of President Obama and not the position (HHS) he was offered. 

Another point that must be made is the shameful arrogant behavior of select pundits in the MEDIAand the Right Wing Republicans towards President Obama and his administration.  I mean techically war criminals (the previous administration) have been allowed to skate by with minimal consequences and to to profit shamelessly for 8 years with relatively few questions asked.   Now President Obama has to have his credibility questioned DAILY because of the back history of  2 people he  nominated; actually who have been in Washington for a while.  Give me a break main stream media (MSM), this is reminiscent of William Ayers and Reverend Wright all over again.   

We need people in these important cabinet positions who will support the President, and get the work done with minimal drama.  Lord knows he is meeting enough resistance with the Washington establishment who are scared to death that he may stop trying to place nice in the sandbox with the House and the Senate members and start passing laws and policies with those who wish to work with him without giving those who do not a second thought. 

Here's hoping that further nominees who know they have stuff in their closet that when revealed will lead to lots of finger pointing and potential embarassment to the administration quietly find other ways to help out and not risk hindering our best chance for thoughtful, fair, and meaningful governence from the Office of the Presidency in years.

It's not about them and their power right now. It's about what we Americans need collectively and what President Obama needs to be able to do without getting hamstrung.

I am a lurker here but have been inspired by a sense of urgency to post this which is slightly off topic. In general I tend to give Obama the benefit og the doubt on strategy. But it seems to me that the republicans are really fighting the stimulus and trying to do as much damage as possible right now to Obama no matter the price to the country. My question to all the experienced field hands here (I am sort of new at this)--I am ready to do whatever it takes to fight the republicans so aside from calling all the senators and hectoring their offices about the ridiculousness of their position , which I plan on doing today, is there anything else that we can do to multiply and reinforce our support for the bill? I am ver frustrated with the dearth of vocal support this is getting in the media and I think this is partly the fault of the congressional leaders. How can we help????

This whole kerfluffle reminded me too much of the "netroots" behavior that led to Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-'Amoto).  If there was a better candidate, speak up - but all that appeared to matter to supposedly Progressive people was sinking Caroline Kennedy in that episode.  Well, "Mission Accomplished".

In the case of Daschle, I was figuring that his past relationships with the members of the Senate was as big a factor in why he got the nomination as his expertise, and that was why Obama was willing to continue pushing through the tax issue.  (Although if loyalty was going to be a factor between Obama and any other pol, I'm not sure there's anyone who was more helpful through his rise.)  Similarly, I feel Gregg's nomination to Commerce is more about having someone in the cabinet who will advocate to Republican Senators, rather than finding a 60th Democrat.

My concern is that this is a blow to the healthcare reform agenda before it even gets off the ground - and nothing beside Card Check will be as contentious an issue in this Presidency.  This is where I think the so-called netroots shot us in the foot again.  Before, it was not having a good Progressive candidate to push while dragging down Caroline's bid.  Now, led by a contingent of resentful Deaniacs, the Daschle nomination was left to twist in the wind while Committee Chairman Baucus dawdled, and the complaints became louder and more dissonant from both sides - to the point where the candidate decided to pull the plug on himself.

Personally, I'm a big fan of Governor Dean, and what he accomplished with the DNC.  And it's possible that if HHS was spoken for, Dean might not have wanted any other position in the administration.  But it's also possible that Obama was looking for a different "skill set" for the job - Dean may not be the second choice.  Or even the tenth, for all we know.

But it appears to me that the President could use much more constructive support on his friendly flank - I think we're getting played here by the entrenched interests.

Let me just co-sign everything you said. Absolutely spot on.

@Scott - There was certainly an anti-Daschle push, and the netroots piled on, but I could never figure out where the big media effort was coming from.  It didn't seem like it was from anyone sitting in the Senate.  From people interested in making the Obama administration look bad?  From health care interests - unlikely, but maybe?  From the left, in reaction to Daschle's health care connections?

At any rate, I think it was big media publicity and not the netroots that took down the nomination.  The netroots just spun their wheels, with no more clue than I have about what was really happening.

I'll just hope that Daschle is succeeded by someone committed to making sure all Americans have access to a public health plan.

Robert Reich has a nice column saying that the Hill has been inundated by calls saying Daschle's relationship with the health care industry is absolutely not OK.

So clearly the net played a role in that (and maybe right wing talk radio, too?).

Even if we take a short-term hit on the health care issue, it's awesome that people are paying attention.  Nobody said this was gonna be smooth and easy.  :-)

As we have talked about here before, the strategic choices to publicly play nice with the minority in both House and Senate require time to unfold--time that the Republican naysaying gambits are meant to curtail. The OFA offensive has yet to begin; the netroots is incoherent; the Republicans are mumbling with their thumbs shoved in their ears; the Congressional Democrats have yet to figure out how to win.  Obama, without even a full cabinet, is curiously letting Congress lead--meaning that a lot of people (think Landrieu) are showing their cards and making a mess of the stimulus. I am looking forward to Obama's direct engagement tonight.  I am looking forward to seeing him elevate his game and corral these cats. My sense is that behind the Daschle departure, Obama and others must be pissed that Daschle let this drama happen and thus somewhat relieved to move on. I also look forward to the Obama WH operation (with OFA) hitting its stride; too many people expect an entire governing administration to be finished on day one. But, now, some elevation will be useful--as much to stick some spine in weak-kneed Dems like Landrieu as for compelling so-called centrist Republicans to do the right thing.

My impression is that the Republicans and their noise machine have been very organized, very together. I don't think they can kill the stimulus bill, but I do think this should be a huge wake-up call for the Obama White House AND the rest of us.

For the Obama WH, the communications team just doesn't seem to be particularly sharp. There need to be more surrogates promoting the stimulus bill and placing it in context of progressive economics. When I grew up, it was understood that government had a huge role to play in priming the pump, hiring people so that they would then have money to buy things, thus putting other people to work. We're still in the shadow of Reaganism which put forth the idea that all government (except the military) is bad and all spending by government is bad.  The WH and Democrats have to counter that as succinctly and clearly as possible.

But as I said, the rest of us also have a role. Talk to friends, relatives, neighbors, co-workers, etc. who don't follow this all that closely. Call Senators and House members. Call phone-in shows. Write a letter to the editor. Write an op-ed -- If it's not a large market paper, you have a very good chance of having it published; they are dying for decent content.

And counter the purists, Chicken Little crowd on-line. They haven't learned from the Caroline Kennedy situation and will bring down a very good nominee or policy in favor of their imagined perfect situation which, they will find out, won't ever ever happen.

I think Obama's judgment was colored partly by loyalty to Daschle (by all accounts, a very nice fellow) and by the fact that he really had credibility with the Senate on health care.  The former I don't care about, but the latter is important and will not be easy to duplicate.

Having said that, the perception that Daschle had so much money being thrown in his direction that he couldn't even keep track of it all for tax purposes is so emblematic of everything that is wrong about Washington that Obama would have had to spend a lot of political capital to keep him on.  I find it sad that someone who by all accounts sincerely wanted to serve the public interest nevertheless became so caught up in the Washington money and influence maw. But you do have to understand that Daschle's wife has been part of that culture for a long time, and I am sure it only seemed natural. 

Unfortunately, lost in today's shuffle was a statement issued by Ms. Lambrew affirming that any Obama proposal on health care will include a parellel public program.  I even think that they might have issued this today to defuse the growing concerns about Daschle's insurance consulting. 

..about the wasted effort and political capital on Daschle and the others...VERY disappointed as well with whoever is doing the vetting --- seems like auditing tax returns etc is pretty standard.  I am not happy that Obama felt that he had to defend Daschle yesterday instead of going on the hunt to support his stimulus package..

I agree above with the statement made that the White House communications team is not really looking sharp right now.  Tht needs to change.

Also, tho I support Obama's general conciliatory approach to some extent with the Republicans, time is running out for these feel good opportunities.  May be time for big O to stop seeming like he can be rolled by the big Media and the Republicans.  I also really dont understand the Gregg thing at all.

What is Rahm up to and why is he allowing this to happen to big O...where is the hatchet?

...gang aft aglay.  Of course that creates a feeding frenzy, but it really isn't necessarily news.  While everyone from Limbaugh to Maddow shrieks about every little detail, real Americans are expectantly awaiting real action by--oh, let's say Congress, for example.

Dozens of agency heads and many hundreds of staffers need to be in place quickly at the same time that Obama is trying to learn how to deal with all the minutia of day-to-day bureacracy.  And you do remember who's been "running" this place for the past eight years, right? Of course it would be great if every member of the new administration were as well vetted as his VP was, and if those that weren't confessed every little secret before they even got an offer.  But it simply ain't gonna happen.

Americans outside the bubble know these are dust-ups, not scandals, and that real government is vast, messy, and full of what is at best moral ambiguity and at worst corruption.  Anyone with any sense knows there aren't enough qualified saints out there to staff a Denny's, to say nothing of an administration.  We want results, not boy scouts.

I'm glad Daschle withdrew, and I hope he'll be an example for anyone else placed in a leadership post.  I don't believe the Rachel Maddows of the world are ever going to be able to live with real life.  Our job is simply to ignore them and keep reminding people of what matters--good, competent, smart government.

...that some of the comments above reflect an expectation that there would be no setbacks or obstacles in changing the direction of a ship as huge as the USS government!

This is very similar to during the campaign: there's no possibility, utterly none, of foreseeing every problem before it happens (especially when an appointee or nominee is less than straightforward - vetters are limited by the information made available to them).

If anybody expects there will be no hassles in this process (or, for example, that the president's sky-high approval rating will remain in the clouds - it never does), or rushes to assign blame when things don't go well, how is that different from all the wasted time (by some) Chicken Little-ing during the campaign?

When setbacks occur - and they always will on any important venture - I don't worry much about who is to blame (or if anybody's to blame): the only challenge is that which is ahead. Maybe it's time for me to get the needle out again and begin vaccinations?

(sigh)

"Anyone with any sense knows there aren't enough qualified saints out there to staff a Denny's, to say nothing of an administration.  We want results, not boy scouts."

While I agree totally that we don't want Boy Scouts, there is indeed some link between the means and the ends.  True, though horrible people can do good things, it is still more likely for better people to do good things.  No one has to be a Saint --- but we should still TRY to be on our best behavior as servants to the public.  If we cannot, what does that mean?  Why didn't it mean something to Daschle that owing 100K in taxes for limousine service just aint right?  Why couldnt HE see that?

He may have done a great job on health reform but how was he going to address the ruthless characters involved with the healthcare industry and look them straight in the eye without blinking? Its not about him, its about US, our needs...he was coming for an epic battle with huge gaps in his armour.  How could he do battle for us and win???

My understanding is that the vetting team did in fact know about most of these issues (I have seen conflicting accounts on Daschle) but a decision was made to proceed with the nomination on the grounds that the candidates were the best available even with these flaws.

If there is a fault here, it is with the judgment of the people who decided on the nominations, not with the vetting team.

I'm really surprised to see so many here defending Daschle. Since leaving the Senate, he's made several million dollars as an advisor to a lobbying firm called Alston & Bird that dealt primarily with healthcare companies, not to mention raking in six figures for speaking engagements for healthcare industry groups-- the very groups he was supposed to be in charge of regulating! His tax flap is a tea party in comparison, and it's a shame that the predominant narrative is shaping up to be that he was shot down for that alone.

Just because Obama liked him and owed him some favors doesn't automatically make him a good candidate for HHS secretary. Hopefully this opening will lead to someone a lot better.

Yep, we need vigorous vetting of the best possible candidates, because we need to get the job done.  I've never felt great about Daschle, but I couldn't tell you why.

Al, this is a little OT, but at what point do you think Obama gives a TV camera a hard look and openly slams Republicans for playing politics with our beaten and bloody economy?  Our man hasn't shown his teeth yet, and I'm thinking I'm not the only one who want to see it.  Really, it doesn't have to be a drama thing--he's so cool that just a little growl will go quite far.

Listen to what he says in his interviews today.  Obama is saying, I knew that Daschle had some taint on him but I allowed myself to overlook it because of his other strengths.  And that was wrong.

And I won't make that mistake again.

Howard Fineman on Countdown did a great job of putting this in perspective, especially in the final minute of his segment.

Obama built a team in a hurry using the players that were readily available to him in order to get things accomplished from day one. In the process, compromises were made, and to some extent, it can be said that he simply rearranged the deck chairs on a sinking ship of state.

The good thing about Cabinet officers is that they serve at the President's pleasure. Those who can't learn to play the game according to Obama rules can be replaced. And they can be replaced at a more leisurely pace than in the frenetic rush to fully staff a new administration. Patience, everyone.

I don't see how the Daschele tax problem would have shown up by simply auditing his tax returns. Unless he had an amended return that showed he was now paying the $130k in back taxes, how could anyone have known he had a car and driver that he didn't claim?

I've been slamming Rachel Maddow for her relentless post-election chicken little schtick, but tonight she surprised me and actually reported some news, including some stabs at the feeding frenzy over Daschle.  So I have to take at least a little of it back.

Al, if you need help in the clinic, I'll bring the cotton balls and rubbing alcohol.

Daschle has gone --regrettable but it was a chioce made out of honor!  Dean does not have the people skills to do the job.  Obama took the responsibilty on his shoulders squarely but I am concerned about the vetting....They let themselves get out lawyered on hclinton and her spouse but that will be ongoing!

57,000 pages of IRS rules and 300 Billion dollars spent by the tax payer to get them done.  We need an overhaul but first strip the stimulus of pork tax cuts and pass it quickly!

It seems to me that there will always be mistakes, but that some mistakes are more avoidable than others. In my opinion, it was an error of judgment for Obama to raise the possibility of someone so closely linked to lobbyists near such a sensitive area as healthcare, especially given the raised expectations of a better and more transparent goverment.  Yes, the Geithner mess made matters worse, but that in itself was not the reason for this misfortune. Does this nullify what Obama has achieved so far? No, not at all, but it may make progress harder on the stimulus and healthcare in the short-term. Longterm, this will fade into obscurity, especially once someone qualified takes up the post. Nonetheless, a mistake was made that could have been avoided.

News flash! Obama is human - more at eleven!

I'd be more concerned if he hadn't already admitted he screwed up and promised to learn from it.