Progressive disappointment in Daschle is Misguided & Unwarranted....

[RollWithIt]

First off, Daschle is no stranger to Obama. Many of his former staffers have been working with Obama for years now and Daschle was a CHAIRMAN for Obama's campaign:

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2006/12/the_obamadaschle_connection.html

(snip from December of 2006)
Here's a look at the major former Daschle staffers now in Obama's orbit:

*Pete Rouse: Rouse served as Daschle's chief of staff for 20 years before the South Dakota Senator's defeat in 2004. Shortly afterward, he was selected to serve in that same post for Obama.

*Robert Gibbs: Obama's communications director, Gibbs served in that same role at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee in the 2002 cycle. He was handpicked by the Daschle operation for that job.

*Steve Hildebrand: Daschle's campaign manager in 2004 (and South Dakota Sen. Tim Johnson's in 2002), Hildebrand accompanied Obama on a recent trip to Iowa and has been reaching out to potential staff behind the scenes. Hildebrand also ran the Iowa caucuses for then Vice President Al Gore in 2000.

*Anita Dunn: Dunn, a longtime Daschle aide, has been tasked with straightening out Obama's Hopefund PAC through the end of this year. She will not be a part of any Obama bid as she is committed as a senior strategist for Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh (D).

*Todd Webster: Webster is a former spokesman for Daschle and the brains behind www.runobama.com, a draft site for the Illinois Senator that has collected some 11,000 signatures urging him to run.


So we know that Obama is tight with many of Daschle's former staffers, and for a long time.


Daschle is also an excellent choice for HHS. He has a plethora of knowledge about the healthcare industry and how to affect real change in Washington. He was far from a "Clinton Insider" and he was one of the first big name Democrats to actually support Obama over Clinton early in the process.


Please take the time to read his book when you get a chance:

http://www.amazon.com/Critical-What-About-Health-Care-Crisis/dp/0312383010/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1227139752&sr=8-1

It's an excellent examination of the problems the healthcare system has, the problems faced in passing legislation, and spells out what needs to be done to successfully pass universal healthcare in a Federal Framework.

(Review From Publisher Weekly)
The U.S. is the only industrialized nation that does not guarantee necessary health care to all of its citizens, and as former senator Daschle observes, Skeptics say we can't afford to cover everyone; the truth is that we can't afford not to because U.S. economic competitiveness is being impeded by the large uninsured population and fast-rising health costs. Daschle's book delineates the weaknesses of previous attempts at national health coverage, outlines the complex economic factors and medical issues affecting coverage and sets forth plans for change. Daschle proposes creating a Federal Health Board, similar to the Federal Reserve System, whose structure, functions and enforcement capability would be largely insulated from the politics and passion of the moment, in addition to a merging of employers' plans, Medicaid and Medicare with an expanded FEHBP (Federal Employee Health Benefits Program) that would cover everyone. There is no more important issue facing our country, Daschle asserts, than reform of our health-care system, and the book's health-care horror stories bring this immediacy home.


So what do the insiders think of the pick??

http://www.politico.com/arena/


Is former Sen. Tom Daschle (South Dakota) a good choice to head up Health and Human Services?

Byron Dorgan, Sen. (D-N.D.):

Yes. Tom Daschle has the knowledge, skills, and passion to be a great Secretary of Health and Human Services as President-elect Obama and the next Congress work to make healthcare more affordable and more accessible.


Norman J. Ornstein, Resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute:

Tom Daschle is a great choice for HHS. He knows the health care system, has co-written a strong book on the subject, knows how to deal with Congress, knows how to pick strong subordinates, and is widely liked and respected. What's not to like?


Anna Burger, SEIU Intl. Union Secretary Treasurer:

Tom Daschle is a bold choice for HHS secretary and a sign of hope that real change to fix our nation's health care crisis will soon come. It is also telling that the first Cabinet appointment President-elect Obama has chosen to make is for a position that is going to be so critical in reforming American health care.

Most working Americans see health care reform as their number one most important economic issue. Health care costs are out pacing wages, and that fact is colliding with a tough economy in the lives of ordinary families. Millions can't afford coverage; millions more are saddled with medical debt.

It will take real leadership to push through a solution to this crisis, and now Tom Daschle is in a position to provide it. He has stood tall on health care in the past, and President-elect Obama deserves credit for responding to the American people and showing he prioritizes affordable care with this appointment. It is going to be up to all of us -- citizens, business and government -- to fix our health care system, and it is good to see government moving in the right direction.


Peter Fenn, Democratic media consultant:

Another good appointment for President-elect Obama. Daschle is solid, smart and understands what needs to be done and how to do it. Clearly, it is important to have a senior voice in place as Obama moves to reform our troubled health care system.


Grover Norquist, President of Americans for Tax Reform:

Tom Daschle as senator was always caught between his own pro-abortion views and the pro-life views of South Dakota and the Catholic Church he grew up in. Now he is free to show his colors in the department that will force him to focus on the abortion/life issue every day.


Pejman Yousefzadeh, Attorney and blogger:

Senator Daschle is a very smart, very savvy, experienced public figure who knows the bureaucratic terrain quite well and is very well-positioned to implement the kind of anti-market health care "reforms" that the President-elect and his party have dreamed of implementing ever since the halcyon days when HillaryCare was thought to be the health care policy wave of the future.


David Biespiel, Poet and writer, Attic Writers Workshop:

It's excellent. To have such a former major congressional player, an effective Senate majority leader to boot, in one of the more traditionally minor cabinet posts -- that's an A Team decision. And surely it demonstrates President-elect Obama's seriousness to tackle health care. Putting a savvy, knows-Washington insider like Daschle at HHS is a sign that the new administration plans to actually govern.

Fascinating choice and hell of a comeback for Senator Daschle.

He should sail through confirmation, as well.


Julian E. Zelizer, Professor of History and Public Affairs, Princeton:

With Daschle, Obama makes two moves. On the one hand he continues to build on the Rahm Emanuel selection by strengthening ties with Democratic Congress and building a strong team to move his legislative agenda through Congress. On the other hand, he sends a bold signal that he is going to make health care a priority issue and push for substantive reform in this area -- something many Democrats have been looking for him to do. This is a signal that a big push might be on the way to try and reshape terms of political debate rather than focusing on small incremental changes.


Steven G. Calabresi, Professor of law, Northwestern University:

Nothing against Senator Daschle, but isn’t there anyone who President Obama wants to appoint to high public office in his new administration who is not either a Clinton retread or a long time, inside the Beltway Washington insider? For two years, we have heard nothing from Senator Obama but a mantra about how badly we need change. Now his administration is turning out to be nothing more than 1990’s retro. It seems to me Senator Obama’s voters have been had.


Christine Pelosi, Attorney, author and Democratic activist:

All Obama appointees must meet the transformation, transparency, and trust test - HHS nominee Tom Daschle passes with flying colors.

Transformation? Tom Daschle has a deep knowledge of the bold policy changes needed at HHS to advance universal health care as well the ego management skills needed to craft bipartisan solutions. Daschle's early investment of political capital into the Obama startup was seen as risky by DC insiders - but it turns out that he wisely invested in transformational change. We need that same entrepreneurial spirit at the helm of HHS where prescriptions for e-medicine, prevention, research, treatment and cures will all require public-private partnerships to succeed. More...

Transparency? After years in public life and months helping lead an open source campaign, Daschle is well suited to convene Barack Obama's public dialog regarding health care where insiders have seats at the table but as the president-elect has said, "don't get to buy every chair."

Trust? Daschle's steadfast stewardship as chair of the No Drama Obama campaign earned the trust of President Obama. We can trust Daschle to help implement the health care changes we elected Obama to deliver.


John J. Weinfurter, Lobbyist, Pres. of Kimmitt, Senter, Coates & Weinfurter:

Tom Daschle will make a spectacular Health and Human Services secretary. His quarter century of public service in the House and the Senate was bookmarked by a demonstrated concern for those too often on the fringes of society --- the chronically ill, the poor, the unemployed, and those without access to any social service network. He will breathe life back into a long dormant HHS as HHS partners with the expanded majority in the 111th Congress to tackle health care reform.


Victor H. Fazio, Attorney, former Democratic congressman:

Tom Daschle is a superb choice as HHS secretary. One of the more decent human beings to serve in any leadership role in Congress, Tom has been focused on solving the nations health care problems for many years. He has learned the issue from the bottom up during his 30 years in the public arena and he has truly studied and then written about the overarching public policy issues, the solution to which can guide us to a more effective and less costly system. As a person respected on the Hill on both sides of the aisle, Tom is most importantly able to resolve the political conflicts and build the consensus required to finally achieve our most pressing national goal -- affordable and effective health care for all Americans.


Celinda Lake, Democratic strategist:

Excellent and real leader on health care.


Jeff Emanuel, Columnist, combat journalist and contributor to RedState.com:

President-elect Barack Obama's selection of former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle sends a very disappointing signal about what direction his administration will go in terms of health care policy and "reform."

Since leaving the Senate, Mr. Daschle has used his cushy fellowship at the far-left Center for American Progress to agitate for a total overhaul of the U.S. health care system, centered on the implementation of a "private system within a federal framework" which would be overseen by a health care equivalent of the Federal Reserve which utilizes the power of the government to "ensure harmonization" within American health care (all words in quotes are Daschle's own). More...

Further, Mr. Daschle has pointed to the U.K.'s national health service, with its waiting lists, rationing of care, and nonsensical drug and benefit policies as a model to which the U.S. system should aspire.

If President-elect Obama and Mr. Daschle are truly committed to reforming the American health care system, they should be willing to consider a course of action which actually addresses the causes of the high costs and large numbers of uninsured that make up so much of this system's problems. The way to do that is not to expand government involvement, but to allow Americans to participate in a true health care marketplace which is free from onerous government regulation and interference.


Martin Frost, Attorney, former Democratic congressman:

Tom Daschle is an excellent choice. He is capable of dealing with complex issues and has enormous credibility in Congress which will be needed to deal with health care reform.



Everybody chill out. Change is on the way. You need experienced advocates to get legislation passed. Daschle is the right guy for that job and a strong advocate of a universal healthcare system.

[BlooInBloo]

1. (shrug) He was utterly useless as Senate Majority Leader, but it's a whole new game...

on the executive side, where there's nobody to punch back. So being a complete wuss there isn't as big of a problem. I'm satisfied with his prospects there.

[RollWithIt]

2. I believe his major problem was being handcuffed by his home state of South Dakota...

He always had to play to the middle to try to survive, those days are past.

[BlooInBloo]

4. Be a man. Shit or get off the fucking pot. He did neither. He just swayed for years like a wuss.

[RollWithIt]

5. K, we're all entitled to our opinions...

I like to research mine.

[Mass]

3. I never understood the dislike of Daschle. He was Democratic Leader in difficult time,

just after 9/11 and in the waves of nationalism that went through the media and the public, and still was a lot more effective than Reid is nowadays. I like him. At least he tried, contrarely to Reid.
Sorry, but I think he got a bad wrap.

[RollWithIt]

7. Yup, and this pick was discussed a LONG time ago....

Was interesting to see some the anti threads.

[Rahmbo]

6. He's a good choice.. was with the O Team from the start.... unlike others

[firedupdem]

8. Guess I better go research...

I'm kinda new to the political stuff and I just read another thread with some horrible stuff about Daschle. That thread is in GD. Ok...off to research now!

[rockymountaindem]

9. His idea of creating a Fed for healthcare and (supposedly) plugging the British system doesn't sound

so great. Of course, there's no way in heck we're going to get single-payer in this country right away.

[political_Dem]

10. What about Howard Dean?

Are there any plans for him now that the Sec. of HHS is set?

[RollWithIt]

11. This article contains some information about why HHS wasn't for Dean.. and questions on future...

From the 15th, before the selection was made.

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_11/015677.php

Dean's name has appeared on short lists for the Cabinet post circulating throughout Washington, based largely on his party chairmanship and career as a doctor. Dean also passed health care reforms while governor of Vermont. And his allies said the Obama transition team has had some informal discussions with him about the job.

But the chief attributes President-elect Barack Obama is seeking in his HHS secretary will be an ability to work with members of Congress and shepherd reform legislation through the House and Senate.

That job description has turned out to be a particularly ill-suited one for Dean, given his partisan background and lack of congressional experience, sources inside and outside the transition offices say.

Dean never served in Congress and spent his Washington career trying to thin the ranks of congressional Republicans that the Obama White House will need to court during the expected debate on health care reform.

Without inside information, it's very hard to know if this is true. We don't even know if Dean wants a cabinet spot, or whether he would accept it if offered.

But the notion that "partisanship" should disqualify Dean is foolish. Jim Nicholson ran the RNC, and he joined Bush's cabinet without controversy. Ed Gillespie ran the RNC, and he became a top aide in the Bush White House. Rahm Emanuel ran the DCCC, and now he's poised to be the White House of Chief of Staff. Dean has a "partisan background"? Please.

If experience working with Congress is a sticking point, that's obviously legitimate. I would add, however, that if working with lawmakers from both parties to get a healthcare plan through a legislature is important, Dean, unlike most policy makers in America, has actually done it.

As Markos concluded, "I really hope the report isn't true." Agreed.




I can't pretend to know his future. He hasn't signaled what job he would be looking for. I think he was a fantastic Party chair and will remain a highly respected figure in our party for the remainder of his life.