The Daschle surprise

I think Ezra's got this right. It was pretty clear that Daschle would be easily confirmed, but the two weeks leading up to the vote were going to be nasty, brutish, and long. The idea that Daschle, himself a veteran of the Senate and a particular target of the Bush II administration when he was Speaker, didn't have the stomach for the press coverage and GOP attacks is laughable. But the glare and the charges of hypocricy were not something the Obama administration needed when it is simultaneously working to get the stimulus bill passed with something akin to what it thinks the economy needs.

If he didn't ask him, I'm pretty sure Obama made it clear that Daschle should drop out. The tax issue was the excuse, but ultimately I think it was the idea that the guy was ultimately just too cozy with the insurance companies. And the fact that Obama was going to go on the teevee last night on every channel except Nickelodeon made it imperative to act quickly.

In fact, I think it's a net positive. A lobbyist (advisor, whatever) for the health insurance industry is out, and Obama gets coverage today for taking responsibility -- and favorable comparisons with a previous president for whom the notion of admitting a mistake was as foreign as room temperature beer.

On a related note, happened to catch ABC news when Jake Tapper said that Nancy Killefer's relatively minor tax issue wasn't the full story. If that's the case, either he should report on that, or shut up.