|
‘I screwed up’ is a breath of fresh air
|
|
|
 On Jan. 20 Barack Obama was sworn in as our 44th president. Hundreds of millions of persons living around the world celebrated the fact that an African-American was elected to guide the United States. In a previous column I maintained that the populace of the U.S. elected the first person of mixed race, who I felt would be a great uniter.
Last week I witnessed our new president admit that he is indeed human. While being interviewed by Anderson Cooper on CNN, President Obama admitted he made a mistake in handling the nomination of Tom Daschle as his Health and Human Services secretary. Obama said Daschle’s tax problems sent a message that the politically powerful are treated differently than average people.
Daschle, the former Democratic leader in the U.S. Senate, withdrew earlier Feb. 3, as news that he failed to pay some taxes in the past continued to stir opposition on Capitol Hill.
“I think I screwed up,” Obama said in an interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper that evening. “And, I take responsibility for it and we’re going to make sure we fix it so it doesn’t happen again.”
I nearly fell out of my chair!!! During the 30-some years that I have been following national politics, I have never heard a president admit that he screwed up. Most of the presidents who have served office since I was old enough to vote in the 1970s have been quite adept at passing the buck. Nixon maintained his innocence throughout the Watergate scandal. They called Reagan “The Teflon Man,” because no matter how bad the economic situation got in the 1980s, you couldn’t stick any blame on him. Clinton never admitted that he had sex with one of his Washington pages. And George Jr. will probably go to his grave believing throwing this country into a war that may take close to 10 years and cost this country trillions of dollars and thousands of lives, was the right thing.
Obama could have said, “I know nothing!” a la Sgt. Schultz of Hogan’s Heroes fame. And, our 44th president probably wouldn’t have been lying.
Obama thought the world of Daschle, the former South Dakota Senator. When Obama was first elected to the U.S. Senate, Daschle took the young senator under his wing, and served as his mentor. Daschle also worked hard for Obama during the 18-month race for the White House. And Obama felt Daschle would be the best person suited to serve as his Health and Human Services secretary. Daschle was well respected by both sides of the aisle.
Unfortunately, there was a skeleton in Daschle’s closet our new president wasn’t aware of. Daschle had apologized Monday for what he said were honest mistakes, calling them an embarrassment.
The series of errors included improperly reporting $15,000 in charitable donations, failing to list $80,000 in lobbying income due to what Daschle said was a paperwork error and not reporting a car and driver loaned to him by a friend and business associate as income.
Daschle recently filed amended tax returns, and paid more than $140,000 in back taxes and interest for 2005-2007.
Those tax issues, as well as questions over whether work he did after his stint in the senate amounted to lobbying, gave critics ammunition to question Obama’s call for a culture change in Washington.
“I think my mistake is not in selecting Tom originally, because I think nobody was better equipped to deal both with the substance and policy of health care. He understands it as well as anybody, but also the politics, which is going to be required to actually get it done,” Obama told Cooper.
“Ultimately, I campaigned on changing Washington and bottom-up politics. And I don’t want to send a message to the American people that there are two sets of standards -- one for powerful people and one for ordinary folks who are working every day and paying their taxes.”
“I screwed up. And, I take responsibility for it and we’re going to make sure we fix it so it doesn’t happen again.”
What a breath of fresh air. Thank you President Obama for admitting your mistakes and having the guts to admit it on national TV. In my books, you are off to a good start!
|
