Ezra Klein is out front with the chasepack for HHS Sec./Health Care Czar gig (feat. Oregonians Kitzhaber and Wyden, among others) now that Daschle has left the scene.
Truth is, this may be a bad hit for the administration's health care efforts (these have already taken a backseat to the stimulus blowouts, of course.) I don't claim to know whether of not having a "Man of Stature Who Knows Washington" will or won't be decisive, but clearly there's not a comparable MoSWKW waiting to assume Daschle's position.
You know what, tho? 'Hell with it. Government-as-such faces a deficit in the legitimacy dept. that has to be erased if we're going to see even the "compensatory neoliberalism" schema de l'Obama administration brought to bear on this sonuvabitch. So if it means a Daschle has to disqualify himself in the face of little but the appearance of misconduct...well, I think we've got bigger fish to fry. Anybody disagree? There's plenty of reason to disagree.
If you're saying what I think you're saying, then I don't mind Daschle going down if it means we might be upholding some sort of ethics standards in DC.
ReplyDeleteIn terms of who replaces, over at TPM Josh Marshall writes, "It would strike me as very out of character for Obama. But at least among emailers there's a groundswell for Howard Dean."
ReplyDeleteI don't know if Dean has the Washington credentials. But I bet he pays his taxes.
gents,
ReplyDeletewhy do i keep hearing the name "Kitzhaber?"
'spose he wouldn't be the first person dave3544 and i sat and mocked, then came to embrace as the best-of-all-possible progressives.