First 100 days: Knives out for Daschle

The New York Times gives Tom Daschle a one-two punch -- with 1) a front-page story on how nominees like Daschle aren’t necessarily following through on Obama’s call for an “era of responsibility” and 2) an editorial calling for the withdrawal of his nomination. The front-page article: “President Obama said Monday that he was ‘absolutely’ standing behind former Senator Tom Daschle, his nominee for health and human services secretary, and Mr. Daschle, who met late in the day with leading senators in an effort to keep his confirmation on track, said he had ‘no excuse’ and wanted to ‘deeply apologize’ for his failure to pay $128,000 in federal taxes. But the episode has already shown how, when faced with the perennial clash between campaign rhetoric and Washington reality, Mr. Obama has proved willing to compromise.”  The editorial : “When President Obama nominated former Senator Tom Daschle to be his secretary of health and human services, it seemed to be a good choice… Unfortunately, ... (link)