I have said all along if there was a problem I would talk about it. Well, I have a problem today.
Tom Daschle. It looks like he is becoming a problem. He has known since June that he had a tax problem and he just now is paying them and it is just now coming out. Why did he not pay them in June?? That would have really defused this whole thing.
Also, why did he not know he had to pay these taxes. If he had an accountant, what was he paying this guy to do?? I think I would be firing him and finding another one if he missed this and it cost me that much.
No, I am not blaming this on Pres. Obama, but I am saying it can present a problem for him that we really don't need right now. After dealing with Tim Geithner, now this.
Pres. Obama is struggling with the ethics issues he wants to hold to on the lobbying issues. They are so entrenched in Washington politics that it is hard to find good help in Washington that doesn't have ties to them, no matter who or what administration you are from. It seems once you leave office you automatically go to work for a lobbying firm.
He has already had to relax his stance from when he was on the campaign trail and is getting lots of heat from the media and some pundits over that. Now after asking for some waivers he is getting even more. Even though the ones he has hired fit in with the guidelines he set, Politico and others are trying to say he is stretching his boundaries by hiring so many. Lets see... he has 12 people who have very tenuous ties to lobbying out of nearly 8,000 employees. I don't think that's too bad.
But, back to the main issue here of the Daschle problem. What are we to do?? He himself never lobbied, but his wife did, so are they going to use that against him also?? I don't know for sure what to think about it, I am torn.
I was really leaning toward Howard Dean for this position anyway, and never understood the pick of Daschle. So, maybe it is time for a change here. I still think it might be a good use of Dean. Of course, we still don't have anyone in the Surgeon General position... Whatever happened to the Sanjay Gupta story anyway???