Obama Accepts Accountability

From the Associated Press tonight:

“It’s important for this administration to send a message that there aren’t two sets of rules — you know, one for prominent people and one for ordinary folks who have to pay their taxes,” Obama said near the end of a day of jarring developments, little more than 24 hours after he had said he was “absolutely” committed to Daschle’s confirmation.

“I’m frustrated with myself, with our team. … I’m here on television saying I screwed up,” Obama said on NBC’s “Nightly News with Brian Williams.” He repeated virtually the same words in interviews with other TV anchors.

Here’s the silver lining in the cloud of controversy over Obama Administration appointees and their problems paying taxes: We’ve at least got a president who gets it.  Earlier tonight, I was pissed.  Perhaps I’m being too harsh on President Obama; and, perhaps there will be more attention paid to “our team” working for the president.  When I heard Obama said, “I screwed up,” at least I heard the voice of accountability.

You never heard GW Bush owning up to anything.  I seem to remember that when Bill Clinton was asked about Zoe Baird’s domestic help issues, he said, “I did not have sexual relations with that woman.”

Has the Game Changed In Washington Yet?

Point Number One Taxes are Too Complicated:

The past few days of news about Obama Administration appointees and their tax issues got me thinking about the complexity of the tax system.  My wife and I pay someone every year to do our taxes.  I did  a quick poll around the office and didn’t find a single person who doesn’t invest every year in either software or the services of a tax preparer to do their taxes.  Put as simply as I can think: I’m happy to pay my fair share of taxes; I’m not happy that the system is so complex I have to spend money to pay taxes.  That’s bullshit.

Point Number Two – Either These People Aren’t That Smart or They’re the Victim of Their Own Greed:

I’m disappointed with Timothy Geithner because he’s not a game changer when it comes to solving our economic problems.  Tax problem or not, didn’t like the pick.  Tom Daschle on the other hand – that just hurts.

Not emotionally, per se.  It hurts the Party, it hurts any effort the president will undertake to fix an immoral health care system and it hurts our attempts to turn back the clock on pay to play in Washington.

Having worked in D.C. during the heydays of the Clinton Administration, I can attest to everything they say about Daschle being a hardworking, earnest, serious-minded public servant.  He was also above reproach on personal ethics.  He was genuinely liked on both sides of the aisle in the U.S. Senate.  Daschle has apparently cashed in during the intervening years.  Well, as far as I can see from what I’ve read and heard, he’s remained true to the basic policy positions he held as a U.S. Senator.

But when someone gives you a limo and driver – at your beck and call – and you use it fairly often, that’s like income.  Apparently Daschle has known since last summer that he had this problem.  He just now paid?  More bullshit.

When Cabinet appointments can be taken down for having an undocumented Guatemalan nanny, do you think Daschle is saavy enough to know last Fall, say, that he better take care of that issue?  He’s tried to pawn it off on his accountant, more bullshit.  Not paying your taxes is a political career showstopper.  It’s that important he should have been on top of it.  He’s either not bright, arrogant or greedy.

So what we’ve lost is a man who could have greatly helped move the current Administration’s efforts to fix the healthcare system.  Daschle didn’t just hurt himself he hurt us all.

Here’s an email I got from a very liberal Democratic friend of mine who has been involved with Democratic campaigns and causes since the early 1970s:

This is absurd, f…..ing democrats, excuse my latin…………….I pay my taxes, and I contribute significant amounts of money to causes that are important, because I think it is our responsibility to do so.   I am obviously out to lunch……………
Democrats really dont give a shit….they dont do either…….we know they didnt give money, that has been an embarrassment, now we learn they are so stupid as to not pay any attention to the tax liability…………………………………….really, really stupid…………………………………………….

Point Third – Expectations Are High

Many of us who got on the O Train honestly believe what Barack Obama says when he claims that his Administration will govern more “from the bottom up,” we’ll end the pay to play culture in Washington, blah, blah, blah.  So far we’ve got the same economic team that brought us the deregulation which lead to this current financial mess, there are more ties to Goldman Sachs in the Administration than to community organizing, the White House press office website still sucks, and next week the Secretary of the Treasury is going to announce Wall Street Bailout II.

I’m not feeling the game change in Washington.

Obama Transition: Meet the New Team, Same as the Old Team

Progressives and others who backed Barack Obama for president are pulling their hair out a bit as the Obama presidency begins to take shape as … the Clinton presidency.

Here’s what we know and what we think we know:

• White House CoS – Rahm Emanuel – Clinton Alumni
• Secretary of State – Hillary Clinton – Former First Lady
• Secretary of HHS – Tom Daschle – Former Senate Leader from Clinton Era
• Secretary of Homeland Security – Janet Napolitano – Actual Newcomer
• Secretary of the Treasury – Larry Summers – Clinton Alumni
• Attorney General – Eric Holder – Clinton Alumni

Now some are looking at this list and wondering where the change is coming for the top cabinet spots.  Here’s where the benefit of the doubt has to come in.

If you voted for Barack Obama and believe that he means what he says and that he’ll work toward a different Washington, one more responsive to the needs of regular folks and less so to the special interests – remember that he’s not even in office yet. 

When these prospective Cabinet members worked for or in the Clinton administration it was in the heady days when the Democratic Party first fell in love with Wall Street and its money.  They were smitten.  These smart people were tired of ceding the “business” argument to the Republican Party.  Except for perhaps Robert Reich and James Carville every Democrat in Washington during the nineties bent over backwards to deregulate and tear down firewalls because Goldman Sachs and their favorite Republican, Alan Greenspan, said it was good for business.

Here’s what’s different: Obama.  Despite all the crap that John McCain and the Republican Party threw at Barack Obama during the campaign, he stayed on message.  That’s integrity.  That’s steadiness and steel.  I believe the guy when he says things are going to change.

As for the retreads – other things have changed.  The Democratic Party is still heavily funded by the investment class and its economic brainpower is still a little too tied to Wall Street for my comfort, but these people aren’t stupid.  They got caught up in the same high flying economy so many did during the nineties.  The difference was they were in power and we can trace some of today’s financial crisis to the policies they pursued back then.  We can only hope they’ve learned their lesson and the great talent of people like Rahm Emanuel and Tom Daschle will be fully aligned with Barack Obama’s world view and public policy.

One thing I do wish they’d try again from the nineties.  Remember when they deregulated cable TV?  I’m still waiting for the “competition” to lower my cable bills.