Daschle dashes

I think Tom Daschle's decision to withdraw as Obama's Health & Human Services nominee is the right one.

One piece of information that I never saw--and that would help give me some perspective on the severity of his tax issue--was what percentage of his total tax liability did $140,000 represent over the period in question. If it was 5%, I'd say push on forward. If it was 30%, it's a different story.

And while it's water under the bridge, I read the New York Times' editorial on Daschle this morning. It's a tough challenge: reforming the culture of our seat of government while at the same time governing during extremely challenging times. Most of the people who have the expertise you need have long been a part of the system you want to reform. It's not as if you can start from scratch with outsiders who have no direct exposure to the complexities of our federal government.

Trade-offs, trade-offs everywhere...