Tom Daschle's effect on Obama

Appointees who forgot to pay taxes upset Obama's previously smooth-running machine

Tom Daschle has just humbled President Obama, said Charles Babington of the Associated Press in Yahoo News. “Obama's rocket ride to the White House” and “his smooth, I-don't-sweat style” made him seem invincible. But Daschle’s withdrawal as health-secretary-designate over tax troubles left Obama with nothing to say but, “I screwed up.”

Too bad it took a "cascade of appointees who 'forgot' to pay taxes" to shake Obama’s arrogant attitude, said Maureen Dowd in The New York Times. Americans have been betrayed by bankers and the Bush administration, and it was beginning to look like Obama thought the lofty standards he's been lecturing us about didn't apply to his "charmed circle." Some debut.

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