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United States News Title: Daschle Ends Bid for Post; Obama Concedes Mistake WASHINGTON — Tom Daschle withdrew his nomination as secretary of health and human services on Tuesday after weathering four days of scrutiny over unpaid taxes, prompting President Obama to concede having “screwed up” in undermining his own ethical standards by pushing the appointment. “I’ve got to own up to my mistake, which is that ultimately it’s important for this administration to send a message that there aren’t two sets of rules,” Mr. Obama said in an interview with NBC News. “You know, one for prominent people and one for ordinary folks who have to pay their taxes.” Mr. Daschle, a closer confidant to Mr. Obama than any other cabinet nominee, had offered to step down over the weekend, but officials close to both men said Mr. Obama had urged him to fight for confirmation. Mr. Daschle went to Capitol Hill on Monday to keep his confirmation on track, but by Tuesday morning, with the pressure showing no signs of easing, he told the president that he believed he had become a distraction and too wounded to be effective. It was the rockiest day yet for the new White House. Two hours before Mr. Daschle withdrew, Mr. Obama’s nominee to be the chief White House performance officer, Nancy Killefer, pulled her name from consideration because of unpaid payroll taxes for a household employee. The developments distracted attention from Mr. Obama’s effort to push his economic stimulus plan through the Senate and complicated the initiative that Mr. Daschle was to have led, his plan for overhauling the health care system. The nominees’ tax problems also gave Republicans a new argument against Mr. Obama and his party as the economic debate proceeds: that Democrats are cavalier about taxing other people because they do not abide by the tax laws themselves. In evening interviews on broadcast and cable television networks, Mr. Obama said he took responsibility for the errors. “And so I’m frustrated with myself, with our team,” he told NBC, “but ultimately my job is to get this thing back on track because what we need to focus on is a deteriorating economy and getting people back to work.” He added, “I’m here on television saying I screwed up and that’s part of the era of responsibility.” Mr. Daschle delivered the news in a call on Tuesday morning to Mr. Obama, who was in his study, just off the Oval Office. He also stepped down from his position as White House heath czar, a job with a West Wing office. Mr. Daschle said Monday that his failure to pay $128,000 in taxes for the use of a friend’s chauffer and car service was “completely inadvertent.” Declining an interview request on Tuesday afternoon, Mr. Daschle said in a brief statement distributed by the White House that he would not have been able to lead an overhaul of the nation’s health care system “with the full faith of the Congress and the American people.” “I am not that leader,” Mr. Daschle said, “and will not be a distraction.” The withdrawals by the two advisers represent the highest-level political casualties of the young administration and raised fresh questions about the vetting procedures for officials already selected and scores of positions that remain open. Senate Republicans signaled their intention to step up scrutiny of all appointees. Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner was confirmed last week after apologizing and weathering weeks of criticism for late payment of $34,000 in income taxes. Both Mr. Daschle and Ms. Killefer pulled out on their own accord, officials said, after their tax returns were scrutinized by the Senate Finance Committee. On the campaign trail, Mr. Obama often expressed frustration to aides about the practice of cutting loose advisers at the first sign of political trouble. “They both decided and recognized that their nominations would distract from the important goals and the critical agenda that the president put forward,” Robert Gibbs, the White House press secretary, said Tuesday. Asked repeatedly whether the White House had quietly urged Mr. Daschle to step aside to quell the controversy, Mr. Gibbs said, “He did not get a signal.” Among the people mentioned as possible candidates for the job of health secretary are Gov. Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas, a former state insurance commissioner; former Gov. John A. Kitzhaber of Oregon, a doctor; and Gov. Jennifer M. Granholm of Michigan. All are Democrats. In the Senate, Democrats were caught by surprise by Mr. Daschle’s decision, particularly after his appearance at the Finance Committee on Monday, as well as several indications that he could win confirmation. But Republicans were intensifying their criticism of his tax failings, and Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader, said Mr. Daschle told him in a phone call on Tuesday morning that he believed the nomination was getting too much attention. Senator Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate, said Mr. Daschle, the former Senate majority leader, had done “the honorable thing to spare his family, the president and his colleagues in the Senate from a tough political battle that would lie ahead.” Mr. Durbin added, “I think he would have prevailed in the end, but it would have taken a while, and there would have been some suffering.” The day had been scripted by advisers to turn the page on the tax controversy and refocus on the economy. In a rare move, television anchors for five broadcast and cable networks had been invited to interview Mr. Obama about the urgency of passing the economic recovery plan, a decision that magnified the troubles at the White House by giving them increased prominence on the evening news. He delivered almost precisely the same mea culpa to each of the anchors as they cycled through the Oval Office. Hours earlier, as his advisers huddled in the West Wing to shape a strategy for responding to the dizzying turn of events, Mr. Obama and his wife, Michelle, made an unscheduled stop at a public school not far away. “We were just tired of being in the White House,” Mr. Obama told second graders at Capital City Public Charter School. Senator John Kerry, Democrat of Massachusetts, who sits on the Finance Committee, said he believed Mr. Daschle should not have withdrawn his name. “I believe that when the smoke clears and the frenzy has ended, no one will believe that this unwitting mistake should have erased 30 years of selfless public service and remarkable legislative skill and expertise on health care,” Mr. Kerry said. In the case of Ms. Killefer, administration officials said she had failed to pay more than a year’s worth of unemployment taxes on household help. The District of Columbia filed a $946.69 tax lien on her home in 2005 for failure to pay the tax. That was disclosed to the Senate Finance Committee, but officials said her tax records were being further scrutinized. “I recognize that your agenda and the duties facing your chief performance officer are urgent,” Ms. Killefer wrote in a letter to Mr. Obama on Tuesday. “I have also come to realize in the current environment that my personal tax issue of D.C. unemployment tax could be used to create exactly the kind of distraction and delay those duties must avoid.” Ms. Killefer, head of the Washington office of the consulting firm McKinsey & Company, was named to the new position on Jan. 7. In the announcement, Mr. Obama said she would help “restore the American people’s confidence in their government.” He said at the time that her role would be to scour the budget for wasteful or inefficient spending. Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest
#1. To: All (#0)
A POTUS who cuts his losses and admits a mistake...yowzah... I expect the MouthBreathers to make this some sort of ethics issue when, in point of fact, neither will be assuming office.
Pittsburgh has 6...how many have you got?
Daschle was a terrible pick. Because he is against our constitution continually. Obama couldn't have know that he was a hypocrite on taxes though. Obama also isn't being genuine though. He let his hypocrite treasury secretary pas thru.
Geithner had a better case than Daschle and Killefer...both clearly had just ignored a relatively simple part of tax law... Personally, Geithner was the brass ring here. Not so with the other two. I've never been a Dascle fan...always believed that he should have stood up to Bush over Iraq and thus made the dems vulnerable to the co-conspirator charges that dogged both Kerry and Clinton.
Pittsburgh has 6...how many have you got?
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