After Daschle‘s surprise withdrawal yesterday, President Obama is receiving widespread applause for promptly taking responsibility, and acknowledging that he screwed up. What is being celebrated is the enormous contrast to the previous incumbent of the Oval Office. A contrast that Obama himself carefully underscored:

I’m here on television saying I screwed up, and that’s part of the era of responsibility. It’s not never making mistakes; it’s owning up to them and trying to make sure you never repeat them and that’s what we intend to do.

But there’s really taking responsibility, and there’s cheaply adopting the public posture of taking responsibility.

Obama made I-screwed-up noises on all five TV interviews he gave yesterday afternoon. Very similar noises each time, which we can be sure were very carefully scripted. In no particular order:

To Katie Couric, CBS:

…but, uh, it’s frustrating for me and it’s something that I take responsibility for. … He didn’t offer excuses and I don’t think there is an excuse and what became apparent was that not only could this be a distraction, but I don’t want my administration to be sending a message that there are two sets of rules: one for prominent people and one for ordinary folks who have to pay their taxes everyday. I think that we’re going to move forward, learn from our mistakes. I will learn from mine…

To Brian Williams, NBC:

But as he acknowledged, this was a mistake. I don’t think it was intentional on his part but it was a serious mistake. He owned up to it and ultimately made a decision that we couldn’t afford the distraction, and I’ve got to own up to my mistake which is that, ultimately, 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.

To Anderson Cooper, CNN:

OBAMA: Yes. I think I made a mistake. And I told Tom that. I take responsibility for the appointees and…

COOPER: What was your mistake, letting it get this far? You should have pulled it earlier?

OBAMA: Well, 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.

But I think that, look, 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.

To Charles Gibson, ABC:

CHARLES GIBSON: You’ve now got three major appointees who, it turns out, haven’t paid all their taxes. What kind of a message does that send about responsibility?

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Well, I think it sends the wrong one. And that’s, you know, something I take responsibility for.

I think that all of these were honest mistakes, but ultimately there’s no excuse for them. And, you know, I think that Tom, as well as myself, understood that. I think he made the assessment that it was going to be too much of a distraction. And the most important thing, from my perspective, is making sure that the American people understand we don’t have two sets of rules here, that everybody has responsibilities. In this situation, I take responsibility for it.

To Chris Wallace, Fox News:

…I think that Tom took responsibility for the mistake on his taxes. I think it was an honest mistake, and I made the assessment. I made the judgment that he was the best person to achieve health-care reform and bring people together.

But what became clear to me is that we can’t send a message to the American people that we’ve got two sets of rules: one for prominent people and one for ordinary people. And, you know, so I consider this a mistake on my part and one that I intend to fix and correct and make sure that we’re not screwing up again.

Now here’s the thing: there’s still this white elephant in the room, the successful nomination of Tim Geithner. There is no way the criticism Obama is directing at himself over Daschle’s nomination doesn’t apply to Geithner’s nomination too. Geithner too benefited from the second set of rules, the one for prominent/powerful people. Obama’s mea culpa can hardly be judged to be genuine till he addresses why it was okay to push Geithner’s nomination if it isn’t okay to have pushed Daschle’s.

If Obama really meant what he’s saying, he would (with very deep regret, no doubt) have to ask Geithner for his resignation.

Until he does, Obama is just a very smooth and savvy hypocrite.

Previously:
Geithner’s Tax Explanation Just Doesn’t Wash
Geithner: I Just Don’t Get it
Any Day Now
Here We Go Again
What’s A little Tax Evasion Between Friends?
The NYT’s Call For Daschle To Withdraw

Subsequently:
Smooth And Savvy Hypocrisy (Contd.)