For the first time, I have to issue a criticism of President Obama and it deals with his choice for Secretary of Health and Human Services, former US Senator from South Dakota and former leader of the Democrats in the Senate, Tom Daschle.
It's not just his tax problem, claiming he didn't know he had to pay about $128,000 in taxes for his "free" car and driver. (He has since paid up.) The AP reported last night that Daschle earned $220,000 for speaking engagements to health care industry pundits. And Daschle is supposed to be Obama's point man to reform the non-system of health care America has.
Even manufacturers and labour have set aside their differences on the issue of health care reform saying that the way things are now puts the US at a huge competitive disadvantage. Does America really want someone whose hand was in the cookie jar "fixing" the problem? Part of the reason why Hillary Clinton lost to Barack Obama in the primaries was because she took a couple million from insurance companies, just a few years after she fought against them.
I don't know how Obama picked his vetters, but the vetters should have done more vetting. Daschle might still wind up getting a pass through by the Senate but he's lost a lot of credibility. I would have picked someone who was victimized by the insurance companies and has absolutely nothing to lose by throwing it back in their faces. Any of Michael Moore's horror story victims in his movie Sicko, for instance.
Vote for this post at Progressive Bloggers.
1 comment:
I agree with you on Daschle. I was surprised & mystified why Obama chose him. His wife was, & still may be, heavily involved in the pharmacare industry as well. Unless she's stepped down since her hubby was chosen.
Just another case of "politics as usual".
Post a Comment