1115.org

(1)

There is a much higher level of dishonesty at work in Obama’s statements yesterday than I went into my first post. Returning to one of those statements, Obama said:

…it’s important for this administration to send a message that there aren’t two sets of rules — you know, one for prominent people and one for ordinary folks who have to pay their taxes.

Now, it seems to be pretty undisputed that Daschle’s withdrawal was entirely of his own volition, and took everyone by surprise, including the White House.

So how exactly did the Obama administration send any message here?

The only message we got from the Obama administration was that they fully supported Daschle’s nomination, and proudly stood by it (and him).

Obama has seized on Daschle’s action to compliment himself and his administration. And, as far as I can tell, the entire media is perfectly willing to pretend that the emperor’s non-existent clothes are indeed awe-inspiringly grand.

(2)

Obama also had some fine rhetoric about learning from his mistakes:

I think that we’re going to move forward, learn from our mistakes. I will learn from mine…

If Obama has genuinely come to feel that he made a serious mistake, that cabinet nominations should not be governed by “two sets of rules: one for prominent people and one for ordinary folks who have to pay their taxes everyday”, then he still has a chance to actually send the message he has so far just falsely claimed credit for sending.

Let him, as I said before, actually hold Geithner to the standard he claims to be holding Daschle to. Otherwise, he just has two different sets of rules for prominent people who have failed to pay their taxes: one for those whose nomination sailed through, and one for those who withdrew their names.