Tom Daschle Withdraws His Name to Be Head of HHS
Previously, we told you about Daschle’s excellent record on HIV/AIDS initiatives, but after battling a revelation that he failed to pay $120,000 in taxes, he is withdrawing his bid to be Secretary of Health and Human Services, telling the AP “he’s not a leader who has the full faith of Congress and will be a distraction.”[NYTimes]
Good riddance! Daschle is in bed with the health care and insurance industries so extensively that there would have been no chance for meaningful health care reform under his watch. Frankly, Obama must have known that, in which case his promises to reform health care are hollow. (Or he genuinely didn’t know, in which case he’s a moron. Hmmmmm. Moron or manipulative liar? It’s hard to say which is worse.)
Unfortunate but appropriate. His record is good in many ways, but there have been way too many “gifts from friends” since he left the Senate for him to look anything but shady as a member of the Cabinet.